Falling Skies: Super Nova
by RemedyRay
Summary: Season 2; These aliens, these people, have ruined my life. They've taken any reason to live from me. They've ruined me. I'm a walking time bomb now, and I'm going to use my issues to my advantage. They'll all see. I only own my characters & the events I've added. ;; Search Estella Boland on facebook for the fan page!
1. Chapter 1

**So, I tried writing using the first two episodes/ 2 hour season premire, but I couldn't find any motivation to do it. So I began with last weeks episode involving Jimmy. THIS SEASON LOOKS SO AWESOME.  
Thank you to everyone who's reviewed and pmed me about the first season's story. It means a lot to hear that people like my writing, (hopefully that doesn't sound self centered or whatever, xD)  
There's some changes for this season's story.  
_SPOILER ALERT._  
(I'm adding that to every chapter I post, so please don't get annoyed. I want to make sure people know so I don't ruin a good episode for them.)  
Enough with my writer's note. Enjoi. c: **

When I heard about Ben and my little brother finding Tom in the woods with Pope, I instantly went cold. I didn't like the idea of Jimmy hanging around him, and he knew it. But he wouldn't listen.

But when I heard about them being 'skitter hunting', that was the end of my patience.

I had left the lunch area I was at and stormed into Weaver's tent.

"You boys need to be-"

I walked past Weaver and Mr. Mason and straight to Ben, slapping him.

"You put my little brother in danger? Who do you think you are? Don't go dragging innocent people into your screwed up idea of fun. If I find out you've done this again, if you hurt my little brother, I will hurt you. I don't care about your stupid strength, I don't care about your stupid speed, an angry big sister is more horrifying than a stupid skitter. Got it?"  
I realized everyone was watching but ignored it, grabbed Jimmy's hand, and left the tent.  
"What the heck 'Stella? I'm 15, I can defend myself."  
"No, don't give me that bull. You know I don't like the idea of you two alone, but with _skitters_? You're crazy if you think I'm going to let you get hurt like that. I can't lose you. Not now."  
My voice had gone quiet and had lost it's strength.  
I heard him sigh and pull me into a hug.  
"I'm not gonna get hurt, you know that. I'm fine. Plus, I'm hanging out with Ben of all people, he'll protect me."  
Oh how wrong he was.

.

I hugged him goodbye as he went off on his patrol, gave Ben a glare of warning, and walked off to find Matt. I was helping him learn to shoot with Maggie after Mr. Mason had said it was okay. Matt had actually saved his dad a few days ago. We kept calling him a hero.

"Okay, so you're going to line up your gun, yah like that."  
Maggie was already helping him aim and shoot at a target we had set up. We had a few cans and some old pillows set up to be targets. It had taken us a lot of begging to use pillows, but we eventually got them.  
"Hey Mr. Mason, you here to watch?" Maggie asked him with a smile. I nodded to him.

Me talking to people earlier was a fluke, I was too angry to care. But I wasn't going to now. I didn't like talking to people. It only made people angry at me. Like Ben…

I had began to follow him around the nights he didn't go out with Jimmy. Since he didn't sleep either, it was interesting to see what he did. He often watched the water when we were around it, or threw rocks at trees. But he never seemed bored.. More like thinking. I wish I could ask him what he was always pondering about.

"I'm here to see 'Stella actually," Mr. Mason's voice brought me back to reality.

I looked to him, then to Maggie, then back to him. She understood.  
"She said she won't talk to you. But you can talk to her."  
Mr. Mason seemed a bit confused before turning his attention to me, muttering 'girls' under his breath.  
"Earlier, with Ben, I'm sorry he was leading your brother into that."  
I shrugged in return. I really wasn't going to respond.  
"I wouldn't have sent him back out with him if I could've changed it. But truth is, no one really wants to go anywhere with him. Between the two of you, tension has grown in the 2nd Mass."  
I looked to Maggie who read my confused face easily.  
"You two have been walking time bombs, not only with yourself but with anyone. We don't really know what's going to happen. You're both kinda mean now."  
I gave Maggie a helpless look, "Mean?"  
"Oh no honey, not like that. We just don't know what to do to calm either of you down once you get angry. And you're always on the verge of being angry."  
I let out a breath, "Oh.." I turned my head to Mr. Mason, "Sorry. I don't mean to be a bother."  
Mr. Mason laughed and patted my head, "You're a teenager. You're supposed to be a bother."  
I forced a smile and nodded. He took this as the end to our conversation and turned to Matt.

"You're getting better buddy," He put a hand on his son's shoulder and smiled, "I'm proud of yah."  
Matt gave a grin that made us all laugh in return. He was one of the cheerful things in my life right now. There were beginning to be very few.  
Once we were done teaching Matt, Maggie and I went to get food. But our meal was interrupted with the most horrifying thing of my life.  
"Help! Help!" It was Ben's voice.  
I looked over to see him carrying a bloody kid. Then I realized it was Jimmy. He had a stick going through his stomach.  
"Jimmy!" I jumped up and ran to follow Ben into the med bus.

Everyone was panicking and Ben was mumbling his story way too fast for any of us to understand.

"Ben, you have to go now," Anne was having someone shove him out of the bus.  
"Jimmy! Oh, Jimmy," I was holding back tears as I took his hand.  
His eyes were fading. I didn't like that.  
"We're gonna fix you up, okay? You'll be fine. I promise," I started to choke on my words.

" 'S-stella," he didn't have the strength to talk but he tried anyways, "I'm sorry. I-I love you, okay?"  
I let myself show a weak smile, "I love you too little brother. But stop talking like you're dying. You'll be fine," I brushed his hair out of his face and gave him a kiss on his forehead before being forced out of the bus too.  
"I'll be back! I'll be here when you wake up!" I yelled to him.  
Once I was out, anger took over me again. The crowd gathered around the bus could clearly tell I went into protective sister mode, because the parted before I started running after Ben. I could hear them fallowing behind me.  
"Didn't I tell you to not bring him along?" I shoved Ben. He turned and I realized he was trying not to cry.  
"I'm sorry 'Stella, I'm so sorry. I didn't mean to. They just came out of no where. They were stronger than me. I couldn't do anything," he started ranting.  
I punched him in the chest. I was surprised at how hard it hit him, because it seemed to knock the wind out of him. Or at least surprise him.

"Shut up. You're a jerk. A cold, heartless jerk. My little brother is in surgery because YOU can't get over your hate for skitters. They've taken almost everything from me, but I'm not killing them every night. You're a big baby. Get over yourself. People here have had it worse than you," I slapped him again.

He grabbed my wrist and pulled me closer.  
"I didn't mean to 'Stella, I know how much he means to you," he whispered as he looked into my eyes.

"Get off of me!" I wiggled free and shoved him back, "Go away! Leave us alone. Just, get out of my life!"  
I backed away as I said those words, then ran off.  
I heard him yell my name as I ran.  
When I made my way into the forest enough, I broke down crying. I was choking on my own breath and everything was fuzzy. I didn't like what was happening. I didn't like that my little brother was possibly dying.  
Dying..

I started to feel light headed. I wasn't getting enough oxygen to my brain. Or I was having a heart attack, because my chest began to hurt. Whatever it was, it knocked me out cold.  
And once I was asleep, the nightmares began.  
Eating at me, things holding me down and making me watch them kill everyone I care about. It wasn't skitters, no, it was something much more demented - disturbing - and would haunt me for days now. They tried to get me to eat part of my dearest friends' and familys' soul, or make me drink their blood, or taunt me. Because they had all of their lives in their hands. And they loved to show me they were in control.  
I woke up screaming, right after I felt things pulling at me and cutting me up.


	2. Chapter 2

**I'M SO MAD THAT THEY DID THIS. When I watched the episode I was just like, rgodfngudfghjlkdfgbjnfn.  
****UGH.**

**Spoiler alert, by the way.  
Anyways, enjoi. Well, good luck. /: **

I hated nightmares. I wish I had my medication. I wish I had some sort of medication. Something.

I didn't know what time it was. It was still dark though. I didn't know which way I had come from, but I tried to find my way back anyways.

As soon as I walked into camp, I realized I must've looked horrible. I was covered in mud, my clothes were a little ripped up, and I had a few cuts and bruises. I felt a bump on my head too.  
I tried to remember everything from the night before, to figure out why I looked like this, but I only came up with the idea of not paying attention to everything after I ran from Ben.

I went straight to the bus, I had to see Jimmy.  
As I walked in, I walked into Ben talking to his dad. He was explaining how Jimmy had gotten his compass. I took a few steps back to listen into the rest of the conversation. When I heard how Ben was talking, it reminded me of the old Ben.

I walked up into the bus then. I couldn't wait any longer to see him.  
When Mr. Mason saw me he gave me a weak smile and patted my shoulder before walking off.

Ben's face showed his worry and pain. I hadn't seen that before.  
"Uhm, hey.."

I couldn't talk back to him. So instead I took the chair on the other side of Jimmy and held his hand, brushing the hair out of his face with my free one.  
"Here," Ben handed me the compass.

I looked at it a long moment, then back to Ben.

Then I broke down crying again. I folded my arms on the table and put my head in them, and cried.  
It was obvious he didn't know what to do. It's understandable, I was hating him the past few months.  
I heard his chair move, then footsteps. When I looked up he was gone.  
Jimmy's compass was lying next to my right arm.

I took a shaky breath, looked to my little brother one last time, then slept again.

There wasn't a nightmare in the world that could be worse than seeing my brother so pale.

.

When I woke, Ben was there again. Anne was too though. Apparently she hadn't seen how much of a wreck I was because once I sat up she was at me asking what happened while cleaning me off.

"I-I'm fine, really," A voice so quiet didn't help me try to convince her.  
I watched Ben as she fixed me up. He was playing with the compass again.

Once Anne left, he spoke.  
"I haven't seen you sleep without talking in a long time."  
I tilted my head to the side. Now that I thought about it, I hadn't dreamt last night.

"I haven't heard you actually talk in a long time either. Only yell."

I looked down to my hands, folded in my lap. I didn't know what to say to that.

"I can go if you want."  
I took a quick glance up and saw he was looking at me.  
I shook my head.  
"I would rather hear you talk, than treat me like everyone else. I'd take yelling over silence even."  
We sat there for a long while in silence.

When I couldn't take it any longer, I spoke. But of course, I was angry.  
"Why were you so stupid? It's my little brother. The only thing I have left as a family. And you kept putting him in danger. He's fifteen, he doesn't know any better. You do."  
He seemed taken aback by my tone.  
With a sigh, he replied only four words, "I'm a screw up."

Then, the conversation was over.

.

Ben shook me back to reality, ranted on about something, then ran off. It was dark by now. I had moved to the back of the bus to try to leave the awkwardness in the air but it hadn't worked.

When I processed what he had said I ran straight to my brother.

He wasn't breathing.  
Then I couldn't breath.

"Oh-my-god, oh-my-god," I couldn't say anything but that. Even that was a struggle. I tried to do c.p.r., but I'd never done it before.

So I took his hand, mumbled how much I loved him and how he needed to come back, and waited for Anne.

When she came, she pushed me out of the way and asked Ben to calm me down while she started talking about medication.  
She couldn't find a pulse.

My breathing became more shallow.

I watched her start doing c.p.r. and clenched Ben's hand as tight as I could.

Then she stopped, about a minute later, and Ben protested with a tone that sounded both angry and scared.  
"I'm sorry, he's gone.." was all Anne could say. Mr. Mason put a hand on Ben's shoulder and I collapsed onto the floor, no breathe coming now.

My brother was dead.

My fifteen year old brother just died.  
I was alone.

.

I was with Weaver when he began digging Jimmy's grave. I was only able to sit there and stare at the hole in the ground, but I was there. We both needed it.  
The girl that I had heard about came up to talk to him. She came from an air plane. I didn't like the sound of it but I couldn't really do much about my trust issues.

When I couldn't take sitting there anymore, I wandered back into camp and into the med bus. They were getting Jimmy ready.

I had stood at the door watching him for a long time before talking.  
"He looks like he's sleeping."

Ben came and squeezed my hand before I walked over and gulped. This scene.

I hated it.

I sat on the bed and pulled him into my arms.  
"Oh, Jimmy.." I whispered, running my fingers through his hair. I started to cry, "I'm so sorry. I love you so much little brother. I didn't mean to let you die too. I was supposed to watch over you."  
I kept mumbling things into his hair and closed my eyes, letting the tears fall freely.  
Mr. Mason walked out and gave me some space, but Ben stayed for a little longer. I think he was making sure I wasn't going to have another break down.  
Once they had both left, and I was completely numb from the emotions, I laid him back down on the table.  
After fixing his buttons on his blue striped shirt and messing with his hair a little, I left.

Everyone seemed to avoid me. But I could seem them all have sorrow in their eyes.

I didn't know what to do now. I wandered around aimlessly until I heard Mr. Mason and Pope.

They were talking about Jimmy's compass.

I circled around to the area they were at in time to watch them beat each other up.  
I wanted to hug Mr. Mason for beating him so badly.

"You want it, take it," a smirk played on Pope's bloody lip as he attacked Mr. Mason again.  
They were both on the grass, rolling around.  
I walked to someone close to me and took their pistol - much to their disagreement - and walked to them.  
I aimed the pistol at the back of Pope's head and got ready to fire.  
"Give it, Pope, you worthless waste of space," my voice was angrier than I thought it would be.  
He laughed and looked up to me.  
"I ain't afraid of a little girl."  
I shot him in the thigh, causing him to feed me a line of cursing before I aimed it again.  
"I said, give me the compass."  
He did, to much protest, and I handed the pistol to Mr. Mason before walking away, compass around my neck.

.

I was called into Weaver's tent because of shooting Pope. Mr. Mason was there too. They were debating on Mr. Mason and I doing the right thing.  
When Pope said, "Then his freak show son got Jimmy killed," I kicked him in the shin.  
"Don't talk about Jimmy. You bring disgrace to his name."  
Weaver told Pope he could leave, and I watched as none of his crew followed. When Anthony said he'd go, I felt bad. I didn't like that.  
I hugged him before he left. He was sorry. I was sorry. Anthony was part of the original squad. I didn't want to see him go.

.

I fixed myself up and dressed in some of my cleaner clothes before wandering off again. Jimmy's funeral was soon. I didn't want to go. But at the same time, I wanted to go and never leave. I was leaving my little brother's body behind.  
He was always there. And I was just leaving him.

I didn't want to live anymore.


	3. Chapter 3

**Spoiler Alert.  
It honestly took all the strength I had to finish this chapter. I didn't want to. I wanted to just stop writing. It won't be the same without Jimmy now. I'm still going to finish this though. I won't drop it randomly. It wouldn't be fair.  
I cried writing this too. I hate it! I feel as if they ruined the series with this. I know he wasn't a major character anyways, but they didn't have to kill him off!  
I'm still crying from re reading it to make sure it was okay.  
I quoted lines from the episode as well. Weaver's speech was directly quoted from the episode. I know other things were too but I don't remember which lines.  
****And I'm sorry for all the crying I put into this. But I try to stick to the emotional impact it had made on Estella within the first year. There won't be as much this season's story. I promise.  
I'm gonna stop with my angry ranting now and let you read it.  
Good luck.**

I watched them lay his body in the ground, wrapped up in a red blanket. Everyone was there.  
I stood by Weaver as he spoke.

"How do you measure somebody, how do you define their worths? A year ago, Jimmy was just a boy, just a little boy. And then that all changed. The world fell apart, he had to step up, had to leave that little boy behind. He had to become a soldier, had to learn how to fight. And he did. And he is now defined by those of us who owe him our lives. He's measured by his bravery," Weaver paused, holding back tears, "It came too soon. He died too young. But he died a hero to me. And I am proud to have served with him. Jimmy, we'll remember."  
I hugged him and started to sniffle before stepping forward.

I didn't know how to start. I just stood there for a minute, fumbling with my hands and sniffling.  
"Jimmy.. Jimmy was an underdog. He was always the one that had to try so hard. And he did. He worked and worked and he always accomplished what he wanted to. He was so sweet. You couldn't find a more caring person in the world," tears started to fall, "He always did what was right. And he stood by the people he trusted.  
"He had a good heart. An innocent one. He didn't deserve this life. But he made the most of it. For those of you that have followed the 2nd Mass with us, you know our story. For those who haven't.. We had come as a family. Mom, dad, our little sister and us. Our parents died in combat. Our sister died of shock. I didn't know what to do. I've never been one to lead. I have so many problems.. I couldn't be strong enough for the both of us. And to this day, I hold it against myself. My baby brother was the one who stepped up. He grew up into such an amazing young man. I'm so proud of him. And I love him so much for always being there for me. I just wish I could've been there for him," my voice was weak and shaky, I knew my eyes were red now, "We owe you a lot, baby brother. You've all touched our hearts and have made such an amazing impact on our lives. Your smile and your happiness with forever live within us.  
"I'm sorry I wasn't as strong as I should've been. I love you so much Jimmy."  
Weaver held my hand and led me over to the pile of dirt next to his grave.

"May the next world be kinder to Jimmy, than this one ever was," Weaver threw in a handful of dirt.

I knelt down in front of his grave and leaned in to kiss his forehead through the blanket and put the picture of our family he had on top of it before throwing in my handful of dirt. The rest of the second mass began to take from the pile as well, one by one, until they had all left.

I stayed with Weaver to say goodbye to Jimmy while the sun was setting. We just stayed there for a while until Ben showed up.

"Sorry for the bother," he said as he walked forward.

"No bother son, I'm sure Jimmy would appreciate the company."

"I just uh, wanted to uhm. I know Jimmy would've wanted you to have this," he stepped forward to me and grabbed my hand. After placing the compass in it, he enclosed my fingers around the item and stepped back. The last place I had seen this was when I gave it to Weaver earlier. I didn't know how Ben got it.  
"It was Weaver's though-"

"No, you keep it," Weaver put a hand on my shoulder and nodded.

They talked for a few minutes before I walked away. They began to talk about Jimmy and I couldn't take it.

.

I knew they were leaving now. I knew they were going someplace else. But I didn't care.  
I didn't want to leave Jimmy. I was sitting in front of his grave playing with the compass, staring at the cross. He was always the one with faith. He was my inspiration because of it.

I heard a bike come up and stop at the entrance of the forest but didn't look up. I just sat there.  
"I figured I'd find you here."  
It was Ben.  
I shifted on the playground set I was sitting on but didn't look up.

He didn't move at first, but eventually came to sit next to me.  
" 'Stella, can I talk?" It sounded like the old Ben..

I nodded, but my eyes didn't leave the grave.  
"I wouldn't have wanted anyone else to be my right-hand man. He was always had my back, even before all this," he started to choke up.  
"He told me it wasn't your fault."  
I looked up to him. He was struggling with tears.  
"What?"

I sighed.  
"He woke up once, and said it wasn't your fault and that he loved me again."

It was true. I didn't like hearing those words, but if he said it then it was true.

"He forgave me?"  
I nodded weakly.  
I've only seen Ben cry once before. But it wasn't like this.  
He laid his head on my shoulder and just bawled.  
I pulled him into a hug and cried with him.  
It's then that I realized that he was just as broken as I was. Not angry, broken.

When we stood up to leave, a skitter showed up.

I saw Ben show fear. He hated the skitters. I'd never seen him scared of them.  
It came towards us and Ben pushed me away.  
The skitter paid no attention to me as I stumbled back. I was full of panic, yes. But I was more curious than scared. They looked so interesting up close.

Ben had fallen onto his back and the skitter stood over him.  
They were staring at each other when I saw the spikes on his back glow a bright blue.  
Once it was done doing whatever it was doing to Ben, the skitter looked up to me and took off. I noticed it had a red eye. I'd never seen a skitter with a red eye before.  
Ben was literally shaking and looking up at nothing.  
I sat knelt down next to him and put a hand on his cheek.  
"Ben?" I was worried. Yeah, I hated the guy a day ago but I was worried. I love him, and I'm a teenager. I'm allowed to be a hypocrite. Especially when it came to love.  
He seemed to snap back to reality at my voice and looked me straight in the eye.  
"What did you see?"  
I shook my head, "Apparently, absolutely nothing."  
He seemed to understand.

I pulled him into another hug. I felt like he needed one. That's when I noticed he still had his tags on. Even after all my anger, he wore them.  
Then again, so did I. But I was only angry with him now because of the past. And I needed to stop with the past. Jimmy had taught me to not cling to it or hold it against anyone, because it didn't matter now.

I was going to try to listen to him again.  
"We should go, Ben," I helped him up and brushed off the dirt on my knees.  
"You don't sound angry."  
"Yah, I guess I don't."  
"I like it."  
He started to walk towards the bike.

"Hold on," I stopped him before going to Jimmy's grave again. I said a prayer and kissed the cross before standing.  
"I love you Jimmy. I'll be back for you. I promise."  
Ben said his goodbyes and helped me on the bike.  
After I had wrapped my arms around his waist and burying my face in his back, he took off. He let me cry some more as we left, my grip tightening.

I told myself to not look back.

That was the hardest thing I've ever done.


	4. Chapter 4

**SPOILER ALERT.  
****SO. I cannot believe the twist with the skitter rebellion and such! Which won't be talked about until about chapter 7.. so I hope you've been up to date. Or you shouldn't have read this since the spoiler alert thing is right there. .  
AND WITH RICK. I'm so mad at that! Why are all these people getting killed off!  
They're making it especially difficult for me too, cuz first they kill off Jimmy - her brother - then Rick - someone she cared about - and now there's something going on with Weaver? GOSH. She really is gonna be alone. And Ben telling Matt he's gotta go away for a while. And Maggie hurt - I really think her cancer might still be there. /: There's so much for poor Estella. D':  
Anyways, rant over, I really didn't know what to do with her. I wanted to make her go a little off the plot - like her be in events that weren't shown on screen but talked about - so bear with me a bit.  
Enjoy.(: **

I was slowly starting to function. I had become especially attached to Ben now. Not for the reasons people might think. But because he seemed to be the only one who understood the extent of pain I was going through.

We were scouting with Hal trying to find a safe route to the 'safe zone' the girl with the plane told us about. I personally didn't like the idea but I figured I should try not to be too much of a hassle right now.

"How you doing?" Hal was trying to get Ben to talk to him again.

Ben didn't want to talk to anyone though. It was hard to get him to talk to me even at first.  
"I'm fine. Let's get back to the mission," Ben was quick to respond.

We found a building with mechs guarding it.  
"I wonder what it's being used for," I asked aloud.  
" 'Dunno, don't care. It's not any of our concern if it's not causing us any trouble," Hal seemed like he wasn't at all curious.  
We began to mark on the map some more when we heard something from behind us.  
I turned to watch two kids drive away on our bikes.

"Hey!" Hal went to chase after them but soon realized it was hopeless, "We gotta get back to camp. Get some help."

"Hold on," Ben closed his eyes and concentrated.

I waited and shrugged as Hal gave me a look. He knew I understood what Ben was doing, but it's not like I'd actually tell him.  
"They're heading east," Ben seemed almost happy.  
"How do you know?"  
"I can hear their engines. C'mon, let's go," he started running off in that direction.  
"How does he do that?" Hal knew he wouldn't get an answer, so I don't really understand why he asked me another question.  
We followed Ben's hearing for a few blocks before finding an abandoned building.

"Are those kids voices?" I questioned, lowering my weapon.

Hal gave Ben and I some signs before heading towards the opening in the building.  
Ben and I went around another building and climbed a wall to the roof. When we saw another opening in the building, we went into the room inside and waited.  
We were on a type of bridge hanging from the ceiling like the ones people use for plays.  
Ben aimed his gun as Hal walked in.  
The room was full of kids, and they all held up their weapons when they saw Hal.

"Hey," Hal put his hands up, "I just wanna talk about the bikes."

The oldest looking boy spoke, "Fifteen to one? There's nothing to talk about."  
He had a smug look on his face. I didn't like it.  
I felt Ben shift his weight in front of me. He was getting anxious. I put my hand on his shoulder to try to calm him. I knew it wouldn't do much, but it did make him hold back.

The boy spoke in Spanish before telling Hal to leave.

"I'd back off if I were you," Hal's voice wasn't very friendly anymore.  
"Yah?" the boy replied, his smirk growing.  
"Yah," Ben looked down his sights. I knew he wanted to shoot.  
"Now if they don't stand down in five seconds, you die," Hal put his hands down, then began counting.

Ben tightened his grip and I sighed.  
"They aren't going to do anything," I whispered to him as the boy spoke to the girl behind him in Spanish.  
Hal reached to four when the girl spoke to the boy - she said his name - and he told the kids to lower their weapons.  
"All of you, put your guns on the ground."  
Hal was in control now, which meant Ben wasn't as tense.  
We jumped from where we were to the ground and came up behind Hal, both of us keeping our guns up.  
It felt wrong talking to a bunch of kids at gun point. Some of them couldn't be 14 years old. But they raised their guns first.

"Diego, that's your name?" Hal confronted the oldest, "Well I'm Hal. And that's my brother, Ben, and 'Stella."

Ben lowered his weapon and waved. I kept mine up. It took Ben pushing the barrel down to get me to loosen up.  
Just because I didn't like Ben being tense doesn't mean I wasn't.

"Take the bags and go," the girl seemed anxious. Almost scared.

Hal backed up and came to us. Ben handed him his gun before he spoke again.  
"Just you guys here? No adults?"  
A boy from the back, maybe 13 years old, spoke up, "We don't need them."  
"Adults get us killed," another added.  
"We look out for each other," it was the girl this time.

Hal looked over them before walking to Diego again.  
"Our people are camped out not far from here. We might be able to spare some bike parts, the very least food and water. You all look like you could use a good meal, no offense."  
"Hilary, Sean, Julian, Rob, come to check it out. The rest of you, hold down the fort," Diego spoke. You could tell by his tone of voice that he cared for them, "We'll be back as soon as possible."  
Diego picked up his gun, as did the girl behind him and some others.  
As they were getting ready to leave, I noticed something.  
"Drums?" My eyes practically lit up as I stepped forward, "You have a set of drums that isn't destroyed?"  
Diego looked back, "They were here when we came here."  
"Oh can I stay here with them until you come back? Please?" I begged Hal. I hadn't played on an actual set of drums since the invasion.  
"I don't like that idea," Ben was quick to respond.  
"Hal?" I gave him the puppy dog eyes.  
He sighed before looking to Diego, "She's been fighting since the first attack. She can help protect them while you're gone. She's a good soldier."  
Diego looked me over before nodding, "You seem okay enough. Besides, it looks like you've been dying to play for a while."  
I smiled before hugging Hal.  
"Thank you both, so much."  
When they headed out Ben stayed back for a minute.  
"I don't like you being out here alone."  
"I'll be fine. Besides, you guys won't be too long."  
We were a little away from the kids, but I could tell they were watching us.  
Ben put his hand on my arm, "Please don't."  
I sighed, "Ben, I'll be fine. Okay? I haven't gotten into trouble in a long while. _You've_ been the trouble maker lately."  
He gave me a look of worry before giving up.  
"I'll be back soon," he put his hand on the back of my head and pulled my close, touching foreheads before walking off.  
"That your boyfriend?" one of the girls asked.

"It's complicated," I stepped over to the set.  
"Always is, isn't it?"  
I laughed, "Yah, it always is. Hey, do you care if I play 'em?"  
The boy who was messing with the drums when we had come in shrugged, "They're not tuned well though."  
I smiled, "I can tune 'em, easy."  
For a long while I sat and messed with the snare and tom toms as the kids went back to their regular routine. A couple of them were sitting around me watching me though. Mostly the boy and his friends, but the girl that had spoken to me was there too. We talked about a lot of things.  
I found out the girl's name was Sarah, and the boy playing the drums was Gavin.

When I actually played, everything felt like it was back to the way it used to be.  
Before the attack I was a major drummer. I'd been playing since I was 6 years old. So it felt pretty good to be holding a pair of drum sticks again.  
I showed the boy a few things after a while of playing them. He wanted me to teach him things he didn't know yet.  
He was a drummer too. But he was only about 12 years old, so he hadn't been playing too long. He was pretty talented for a 12 year old though.

.

This has not been my year. At all.

And to top it all off, I was being led somewhere with the rest of the kids by a group of skitters and mechs.  
We had put up a heck of a fight, but there wasn't any chance of winning. It had happened so suddenly and they destroyed the building.  
Many of the kids were panicking, others were too stunned to speak.  
"It'll be okay," I kept reassuring them, "Both of our groups will have already gone back to find us and see that we're gone. It'll be fine."  
I didn't believe what I said, but I was surrounded by mostly younger kids. I had to try to calm them down.

We were sent to the factory we had scouted earlier that day. Once we were inside, we were led around a few hallways and into a room, where the skitters tied us up and left us.  
It was creepy being stashed away in a storage room with the rest of the group. We had no idea where we were. We didn't know what lied ahead. I hadn't heard of them doing this. I figured when we were captured it would be like before where we were taken onto a ship and possibly sent somewhere.  
Between the cries and the panic attacks, the room wasn't any fun to be in either. I couldn't think. I needed quiet. But it was a stupid thing to ask - them to be quiet. Like that would happen. It was horrifying to be here. They hadn't experienced this before. Not like I had.  
"Why is it always me?" I mumbled as I laid my head on the ground.  
All I could do was wait.

.

I heard noises outside about four hours later. It was faint, and I couldn't tell what it was because of everyone else.

I shushed them a few times before telling them to shut up.  
"Listen!" I yelled in a hushed voice. The room went quiet.

There were panicking yells, footsteps, and pounds. It was like someone was hitting the wall.

There was a huge commotion following that before the door finally opened.

In came Diego and his crew tied up as we were.  
But another was with them, and it confused me.

"Matt?" I stood and walked forward as the door shut.

" 'Stella! We have to get out!" he was freaking out, like everyone else.

"Sh, it's okay. We will," I kissed his head and had him sit next to me, "They'll be here any minute. They have to. They must've noticed you were gone."  
"So much for keeping them safe," the girl next to Diego said. She was the one from earlier.  
"I tried. But I didn't have enough ammo to take out two mechs. And you don't have any bullets to pierce their armor so, I didn't have much luck," I snapped back, "Besides. You should've waited for Weaver and the rest to come instead of come alone, you idiots."  
"Yah well, her dad was taking his time getting here," Diego defended her.  
My eyes went a little wide, "Your dad? Weaver's your dad?" I looked her over before thinking of his kids, "Gene?"  
She seemed confused, "Yah. How'd you know?"  
"He's like my father. I remember him telling me of his family. You're the older one. I mean, you couldn't be as young as your sister. Obviously."  
"He talked to you about us?"  
"Well yah. My little brother and I saw him as a dad after we lost our's."  
She seemed to notice the compass around my neck then, "He gave that to you?" She seemed offended. Angry.  
"He gave it to my little brother. But.. He died recently," I took a breath, "And so Weaver let me keep it."  
She was going to say something when the door opened.

A skitter was holding it open while another came in and looked us over before choosing us. Gene and a few of the younger boys from her group were filed out, then Matt. When he started panicking I stood to try to get them to let him go, but they had already planned for me to go with the group anyways.  
We were put into another room before getting knocked out.


	5. Chapter 5

**SPOILER ALERT.  
Woo! So, the harness bug thingys were really icky. And creepy. They'd be cool as a pet, but not if they wanted to cling to my spine and make me a zombie addicted to some sort of drug. I wouldn't like that too much..  
Anywhos. Enjoy, again. xD**

When I woke, I was strapped to a table on my stomach. I could lift my head to look around but only barely.  
The room was dark, the lighting red for some reason. I could see a machine as well but didn't know what it was used for.  
Gene was awake already, talking to a boy in front of her.

When I saw Matt, I started yelling for him.  
"Matt! Matt, are you awake?"  
He stirred before looking up. He glanced over at another kid the same time I did.

The kid had a harness on his back. They were going to harness us.

I saw fear in his eyes and instantly began talking to him.  
"Matt, it's okay. You know me, I'll get us out of here before anything happens."  
I heard Gene talk to another boy, Johnny, when a skitter came into the room.  
He began to pet Matt.  
"It's okay Matt! He's not going to hurt you," I yelled.  
The other boy began to get pet then, when a noise came from the machine and a bug like thing came from it and went onto the boy's back. I noticed then that the bug was a harness.  
Gene started to yell as I watched it connect.  
Matt started crying.  
"It won't get to you Matt! Don't watch!"  
He put his head down before a skitter came to me and started making noises. It pulled me away and into another room down the hall.  
"Matt! They'll be here! Don't worry!"  
I hoped he heard me.  
The room was dark like the others, and another skitter was in it.  
I was put under another pipe like thing. I heard a noise and the machine came to life, spitting out another harness.

I looked around trying to get my mind off what was about to happen when I heard gun shots.  
The room around me was filled with already harnessed kids.

"Help!" I started to scream as loud as I could hoping the people shooting could hear me, "Help!"  
I felt the harness-bug slither across my back, right on my spine.  
I could feel my heartbeat in my ears as it got closer to my head. The feeling alone was scary enough.

The skitter was petting me as it did the other boy.

I put my head back down and clenched my eyes shut.

The bug stopped moving and the front half pulled off of me, making a noise. It sounded like it was hissing.  
"Please no, please please no," I mumbled.  
I heard footsteps and a gun shooting, then felt the bug fall limp on me.  
The skitter next to me made an angry noise and ran off, before it fell to the ground from another round of shots.  
I didn't notice I was shaking, or that my breathing was shallow. I didn't notice my lip was bleeding from biting down on it so hard.  
I could only focus on what almost happened. And that the harness was still on my back.  
Whoever was shooting needed to get over here.  
I couldn't open my eyes. But I knew someone was next to me, franticly pulling the bug harness off of me and throwing it across the room.  
"It's okay, 'Stella, I'm here," it was Ben. He freed me from the table and pulled me up.  
When I finally opened my eyes, my vision was blurry. I wasn't crying, but I could feel the shock completely take over me.  
He brushed the hair from my face and looked me over to make sure I was okay.  
The other skitter that was in the room before came back from the noise, and Ben killed it too.  
He got me to stand up and put an arm around my shoulder to lead me back to the others. I had my arms around myself protectively and kept starring at the floor.  
The feeling that the bug was on my back was still there. I didn't know if it would ever go away.  
When I was with the others, Ben let me go when I was with his dad.

Everyone was looking around, freeing more kids, and trying to calm the ones already freed.  
I looked up to watch Ben though, who had wandered over to the tank the harnesses were in.  
His hand touched it before his spikes began to glow again. I watched as a harness swam towards him, then latched itself onto the wall inside the tank like it wanted him.  
I noticed Hal watching. This wasn't good.

My attention came back to Ben when he stepped back and shot at the glass.  
The harnesses came spilling out with whatever fluid was in the tank. He continued to shoot, and the others were forced to as well so the harnesses didn't try to latch onto anyone else.

Hal walked up to Ben once they were done, "Do you think you coulda thrown a grenade over there?"

I turned back to Mr. Mason, who was making sure Matt was okay.  
I didn't know what to do. So I stood there awkwardly, shaking, almost completely blank.

I turned when I heard another noise like the harnesses make, only to watch Weaver get attacked by one.  
It clung to his leg and made him collapse on the ground before his daughter could pull it off.  
He was quick to get to his feet and shoot it to death. But I didn't know if it would do any good now.  
I had seen how almost frozen the boy was after the harness had clung to him. What would happen to Weaver?  
Once everyone was freed we left, and fast.  
I was on auto pilot. Ben had to keep me going, because I didn't want to do anything on my own.

.

I was being checked over by Anne for a good portion of the hour after we got back to camp. I was fine, no injuries that would be horrible, but she told me what I already knew - I would have many more anxiety problems for a while.  
I took Hal's post after his shift was up and sat down on the ledge, hanging my feet through the bars from the railing that was put up so no one fell.  
Ben was leaning against it, and we both sat in silence watching the sky the rest of the night.

Once it was morning, I finally spoke.  
"Did Hal already talk to you about seeing your spikes glow?"  
I heard him sigh, "Yah."  
"And?"  
"He acted just as I said he would. So I told him to keep quiet."  
"Do you think he will?"

"Dunno."  
I looked up to him, leaning my head on my hands wrapped around one of the bars, "Wanna talk about it?"  
He put his head on the railing and shook his head, "The connection was like the one with the skitter."  
"You still won't tell me what happened between either though, will you.." I looked back to the sky.  
He sat down next to me, " 'Stella, I wish I could. I don't know what to say though. It's gonna take a while to get my thoughts together."  
"I know."  
When breakfast came around, people came to take our posts.  
We were walking to the mess tent when Hal came up to us.

"Ben, it's ready."  
They shared smiles as I gave them a confused look.

"What's ready?"  
"C'mon, we gotta show you something," Ben took my hand and the brothers led me to my tent.

There once was a huge space in it because there were only three cots in it - Mine, Jimmy's and an extra one for when one of the Masons came in to sleep with me.  
Now, in a corner of the tent sat the drum set from the building the kids were hiding in.  
It was a beautiful light green color, fading into white horizontally. Though it only had what an original set had, the high, low and floor toms, the snare drum, the bass drum, and the crash and ride symbols, it was still an amazing thing to see.  
I was speechless. Mr. Mason handed me the sticks for it and put the tuner piece on my cot before backing up, waving me to play.  
So I did. I sat down behind it - I noticed they remembered how I liked it set up - and played a song I had wrote a long time ago.  
It felt amazing. I could feel more eyes had come to stand by my tent but I wasn't paying much attention. This was a release I had been missing.

It was a long time before I finished messing with it. It was almost dinner and I had skipped a shift that no one seemed to care about.  
"So, how was it?" Maggie asked as I lined up with the others to get food.  
"It was good," I held a slight smile, but nothing could get me to stay happy for too long anymore.  
"It was a pain to get back here, so you better love it."  
I laughed a little, "Trust me. I do. More than you can imagine."  
I left with Ben to go sit on a rooftop to eat, watching the sun begin to set.

"You still stick your tongue out when you concentrate," He commented as we downed the canned peas we had found.  
"I never did notice that I did that," I looked to him for a brief moment before going back to my food.  
After some silence, he spoke again, "I thought it'd make a great late birthday present. Jimmy and I were already trying to find a set for a long time.."

He seemed to almost freeze when he mentioned him. I did too.  
We both just sat there, looking at the sky again. Thinking of Jimmy.. It hurt. For both of us.  
"Oh, uhm, speaking of birthday presents," we were walking back to our tents. As usual, they were next to each other, "Come with me."  
We went into my tent and I dug through some of the bags I had before finding the one with all the things I had of us. It was a mix of my secret stash, his secret stash, and framed pictures I had grabbed from before.  
I found the Deathly Hallows book and smiled.  
"I drove forever to get this for you. I was going to give it to you for your birthday. I told absolutely everyone to not get the book for you, and to keep you from getting it just so I could."  
We were sitting on my cot when I told him to close his eyes.  
"Okay," he had a smile on his face, "Should I be worried?"  
I put the book in his hands that were held in front of him.  
"Okay, open them," I watched as he did and looked down at the book.  
"It's signed," I added, opening the cover to show him J.K. Rowling's signature and a message saying 'happy birthday Ben'.  
"Oh, Estella," he seemed almost speechless, like I was earlier, "I can't believe you did this for me."  
"Hey, what're best friends for?"

He looked to me and I noticed how close our faces were.

"Yah, best friends," he breathed, looking into my eyes.  
We both leaned in, our lips meeting for a second before I pulled away.  
"Uhm, I should go find Maggie. I have a scout with her in the morning," I mumbled before standing and walking out, leaving Ben alone.  
My thoughts were racing. I couldn't believe I just did that.

My mind went to Jeremy. I hadn't seen him or Meredith for a long while. But he had left giving me a goodbye kissing and telling me he'd be back for me.  
We had a thing after I shot the girl. Since Ben had become mean, Jeremy was there for me. And I needed that.  
I knew that were weren't dating. He left to go off somewhere, and he might be dead for all I know, we both knew we couldn't consider that dating.

But I had kept telling myself Jeremy was better for me than Ben. Ben had changed, and he was mean.  
But he wasn't. I was being a jerk. An over reacting, misjudging teenage girl, who was a jerk. I sighed.  
This wasn't the time for silly romance. It wasn't a place for that anymore. But I couldn't help but wish that I didn't walk away from him anyways.  
"Stupid 'Stella, you need to think before you act," I took a deep breath and remembered what Jimmy had told me about it, "I'll try harder. For you."


	6. Chapter 6

**Spoiler Alert! **

**Okay, so last night's episode with Karen. WHAT THE HECK. NO. YOU'RE SCREWING UP MY STORY.  
But actually, it's helping out with a plot twist that I have for you in a few chapters~ BUT STILL. I got jealous when I saw them kiss, I think I've become too attached to my story/character, O.e  
****Oh, and I love the red eye skitter.3  
****OH. AND THEY KEEP KILLING OFF EVERYONE ESTELLA CARES ABOUT. Now, if Maggie dies, I'll just wanna flip a table or something. I'll just be like 'swuofdnjbr9ghblkfh' like how I was last night. This season is definately keeping you guessing/on the edge of your seat.  
****AND, the last of my rambling, did you hear about it getting renewed for a third season already! :DD  
****K, done ranting. I like having one way conversations with my readers, sorry.(: XD  
****Enjoy. c: **

I should know by now to not be nosey. But I couldn't help but follow Ben when I saw him running out of camp.  
I grabbed my gun and followed him - obviously - but I didn't think I'd see what I did.  
He went into a building downtown, after a long night of walking, and I waited to see what would happen. But nothing did for a few minutes. I became impatient and began to walk towards the entrance when I heard the screeching howls. I didn't know how else to describe it.  
"Ben?" I ran into the building and looked around. The door to the stairs was shoved open, so I took them. No other doors were touched until I came to the roof.  
I slowly pushed open the door the rest of the way as I heard the noise become louder.  
The sight was confusing. I walked a little closer to Ben to see he wasn't the only one with his arms raised and making that noise. I figured it was with the aliens, because his spikes glowed, but I didn't really know what to make of the scene. A lot of thoughts came to mind.  
The sight was interesting, almost beautiful for some reason. All of them talking in their weird voices, the sun rising above their held up arms.

But the sight didn't last long. An explosion shook the building and chaos struck.  
It was a bomb the aliens dropped. But why were they killing their own kind?  
"Ben we have to go!" I grabbed his shoulder and he looked up at me horrified.  
He stood though and took my hand, leading me through the building and to the parking lot. Other skitters had met with him and they seemed to be communicating. A few looked to me, then back to him, talking with their hands.  
Rick ran up with a few more skitters.  
"What's she doing here? Ben!" He seemed worried more than angry.  
"I don't know. I didn't bring her along!"

I then noticed one of the skitters watching me. It took me a minute to realize he was the red eyed skitter from the park that came to talk to Ben when we were at Jimmy's grave.  
"You…"  
Ben looked to me confused, but the skitters started making noises. They almost sounded like they were arguing.  
"I didn't mean for her to see it!" Ben was talking to them, but his spikes didn't stop glowing. Could they understand us? Or were they using Ben and Rick to translate our language into theirs? Like they did with the harnessed kids?  
Some mechs had come to stand around us then. I was starting to panic. Being around all these aliens so close, it honestly horrified me. I was clutching Ben's hand so hard that it would've hurt anyone else.  
"Ben, we have to go, they're circling back around," I spoke quietly, but I figured the others would've heard me too.  
He looked up as one of the skitters pointed off in another direction. The shadows of mechs were growing on the walls of another street around the corner.  
"Stay close. And make sure you don't get our mechs and skitters confused with theirs," Ben was looking me straight in the eye.  
"Uhm, can't I just hold your hand and run?"  
The red eye skitter was staying back with us as the others and Rick were doing something in the parking lot with the mechs. It was then that the mechs from around the corner came and started shooting. Ben pulled me behind a car and motioned for the red eye skitter to follow.  
"We're all going to run for it. But you can't listen to them, so you have to stay by me. I can't hold your hand though, I have to help fight."  
I looked to the red eye skitter. He was watching me curiously, and I could tell that he was talking to Ben through their weird connection.  
"Can I hold his?"  
Ben seemed a bit startled by my question, but he looked to the skitter.  
"I mean, he didn't run off with the rest of them. So he's going to be running away first right?"  
The skitter looked at me while they talked.

"You aren't afraid of me, child?"  
I looked to Ben, but his eyes seemed to hold a different look than before.  
"You're talking to me through Ben?" I looked into the skitter's eyes when I spoke. It felt weird looking at Ben but talking to someone else.  
"Yes. It's the only way I can communicate with you. You're an outsider."  
"More than you know. Am I allowed to follow you if I can't follow Ben?"  
"If you wish. It's quite remarkable, you trusting me. After what they've done to you."  
"I don't have to trust you. If Ben does, that's good enough. He's always been a good judge of character. I know I couldn't begin to understand you, but he does."  
Another explosion happened and the gunfire got louder.  
"You need to go," Ben was himself again.  
I looked to him for a second, kissed his cheek, then stood. The skitter held out it's hand and I took it.  
Even though it was an alien's hand I was holding, it helped calm me as we ran away.  
I looked back for a second to watch Ben run into the middle of the fight.  
"Will he be okay?" I didn't know if it'd understand me or not, but I was going to ask anyways.

It turned it's head to look at me and seemed to nod. I sighed.

How do I always get myself into these messes.

.

We didn't expect to see anymore mechs, but we ran into some when going down an alley.

"I don't think they saw us. Can they connect to you like Ben does?"  
I was whispering. We were hiding behind some boxes waiting for them to pass.  
It looked at me and shook it's head, but I could see worry in it's eyes.  
"If Ben doesn't want anything to happen to you, I'll try to help out. I have a gun too after all," I smiled a little, though I didn't know how I'd help.  
"I wish we could hold an actual conversation. But I hope you don't mind me still talking if you can't really reply. It helps me forget about the things going on around me. It calms me a little."  
I could tell it was curious of me. No human not harnessed has probably been so normal around it. Granted, I wasn't completely calm or completely normal, but I was getting there.  
When the mechs were gone, we continued. I was following him blindly and prayed.  
We ran into the line of another mech who didn't hesitate to shoot us.

The skitter yelled in pain and let go of my hand to hold onto it's wound.  
"I'm sorry if this is going to be mean," I told him before running towards the mech and throwing the few things of c4 I had stolen at it's feet.  
I took a breath and aimed down my sights, waiting for it to walk closer to them before shooting one, creating a chain explosion around it's feet.  
I quickly ran towards the skitter and pulled it forward with the hand it wasn't using.  
"Which way?" I was panicking again. I didn't want to be around when another mech came along.  
It pointed down another alleyway and I half drug it along until I found a place it hide in another abandoned building.  
"Okay, I'm going to try to help you. But I might hurt you too. I won't mean to, but I promise, I'm on your side," I led it behind some boxes in the back of the room and had it sit down, or lay down, I don't really know what I would call it.  
"You've gotta let me see the wound," I slowly pulled it's hand off the gun shot. It was bleeding and the bullets were in it a bit deep.  
I looked to it, made eye contact, and pulled my hair up.  
"Okay, this is going to hurt. I'm going to try to get the bullets out, okay?"  
I placed my gun down and pulled my jacket off before leaning in to look at the wound. I was a bit disgusted and scared to put my hand inside an alien, but I had to. I knew I did.

I concentrated and spent a good twenty minutes getting a few of the fragments out. Then I heard the door open.  
I peeked over the boxes and saw a skitter walking in.  
I looked to the one by me before whispering, "Is it one of your's?"  
It shook it's head no, so I grabbed my gun, "Am I allowed to shoot it?"  
It seemed a bit sad, but nodded yes.  
"Only if it comes over here, promise."  
Then I waited, hoping it would turn around and go. But it didn't. It walked all the way to the back of the room and came at the skitter. I stood in it's way, hitting it's head with the barrel of my gun.  
It was startled, that's for sure. But didn't waste any time throwing me across the room.  
"Ow.." I mumbled before seeing it go closer to the red eye skitter. I got up and charged at it, shoving it into the wall.

"You stupid skitter," I held it against the wall with the barrel of my gun, "I don't want to kill you."  
It made a screeching noise so I put it down. It lunged at me again, knocking me face first into a pillar. I was able to catch myself in time to not slam my face into it, but I felt something go into my stomach. I didn't have time to see what it was, only to pull it out and move for my shot gun.  
It took another five minutes of being thrown around the room to get to it and I wasted no time turning around to put a shot gun shell in it's head.  
It fell, defeated.  
"Finally," I sighed before getting up. I flinched at the movement but didn't have any time to see how bad it was.

I leaned down next to the red eye skitter and started working on it again. I got almost all of the fragments out, but I didn't have the right tools to do any more.  
"Okay, that's all I can do," I sighed as I leaned against a box, my hand instinctively going to my stomach as I moved.

It looked at me, and I could swear I saw it worried.  
"I've been hurt a lot. It's a habit of mine apparently. Whatever stabbed me didn't go in too deep so I doubt I hit any organs. I'll be fine."  
I was almost positive I would be too.

Almost.

.

It was about an hour later that Ben showed up. The first thing he did was run to me after I heard the door open.  
"What happened?" He was worried, there was no doubt about that, "Let me see it."  
I gave him a look that was meant to be stern but he pulled my hand away.  
Yup, he thought it was bad.  
"I'm too afraid to look at it. I can tell I've been bleeding quite a bit though," I looked at my hand and tried not to get sick. Blood always disgusted me.  
"I got almost all of the bullet pieces out of his injury at least?" I looked to the skitter.  
"What? Injury?" Ben looked to the skitter now and observed his wound too, "Why didn't you tell me you were hurt?"  
Then they started having a talk with their weird connection again.  
I sighed and shifted my weight, trying not to show any sort of pain as I felt it.  
"Where's Rick?"  
Ben looked to me and shook his head, "Dunno. I lost him when they started attacking again. I heard him tell me to go as the others started running, then he was gone."

"You just left him?"  
I wasn't angry. Frustrated, but not angry. Leaving someone behind wasn't an option. That's what Weaver taught me anyways.  
Ben closed his eyes and let out a breath he must've been holding. Apparently he didn't like saying that either.

"We need to get you help," He was trying his hardest to change the subject.  
"No, we're not leaving him," I nodded towards the skitter who was most likely paying very close attention to us talking.  
" 'Stella, you need medical attention."  
"No, I _need _to stay here with the skitter I just helped escape from other skitters."  
"Why're you so stubborn?"  
"Why are you so pushy?"

"Because you're stubborn."  
I smiled, "That's a good excuse. But I'm still gonna be stubborn."

He shook his head but a smile played on his lips. Good, I got him to calm down a little.

After a while of waiting, Ben stood. He grabbed his gun in the process and hid behind the pillar I was thrown into, ready to shoot.

"Wha-"  
He shushed me and made a motion for me to stay hidden.  
I heard voices, but I didn't move.

"Ben, it's dad are you hurt?" I heard Mr. Mason's voice when the door opened. I wanted to move, but the skitter put it's hand on my arm. I knew I should listen to Ben.

"Dad? Just - Just go away."  
"Ben. It's me, Rick, I brought them here."

Rick's voice was closer than the others.

"Why would you do that?" Ben seemed extremely worried. It was understandable, they wouldn't like knowing a skitter was hiding back here with me.  
" 'Cause he needs their help, otherwise he'll die and everything he worked for will be lost."  
I looked to the skitter. He was really that important?  
Ben walked to them with his gun raised, "I'm not gonna let you hurt him!"  
"Hurt who Ben?" Mr. Mason must not like hearing Ben talk like this.  
The skitter stood and I watched it go into their view.  
"No! It's not possible!" I heard Mr. Mason and Ben argue for about twenty seconds before the skitter made I noise.

I stood and clutched my stomach as I leaned against another side of the pillar, halfway in their line of fire. That's all I could do to protect the skitter. But I had to do something.  
I watched Rick put his hand on his chest and closed his eyes. The skitter was looking at Mr. Mason.  
Ben looked back at it before Rick started talking.  
"I saved you, professor. I saved you from death," the skitter was talking through Rick, "You know this to be true. We must talk, it is urgent you understand. Put down your weapon."  
"Dad, if we don't help him he's.. he's dead. He's dead," Ben didn't like talking like that.

When Mr. Mason looked to me, I nodded.

"I know it is difficult to understand," Rick - the skitter - was talking again, "But we are fighting the same enemy. Anger, hate, these I feel too. But until we defeat the overlords, we cannot hope to-"  
"Stop!" Mr. Mason didn't like this.  
"Many lives have been sacrificed Tom Mason, and many more will-"  
The skitter collapsed, as did Rick. I knelt next to it as Ben came over.  
"No," he breathed.  
I shoved his hand away to look at the injury.

Ben sat on his knees in front of the skitter and I as they argued about shooting it again. I didn't have time to pay attention, I was franticly trying to find the other fragments to get them out. It wouldn't begin to heal right otherwise, and we didn't have the time to talk them into helping us.  
It was sounding like they were coming to an agreement when I collapsed as well, going into a sort of hazy black out.

I remember hearing someone tell me I was going to be okay and Anne saying I was going to be fine, it was because of putting my body under stress.  
I was half awake, half confused about an hour after they got back to camp, my stomach bandaged.  
"I have to talk to them," I rolled off of the bed and caught myself from slamming into the floor.  
"Estella, you're not ready to move," Anne was protesting every move I did.  
"No, I have to do this. Please," I was clinging to her arm as I learned to move my legs again. I didn't understand why it was this difficult, I'd only been out an hour.

She sighed and led me to the place the skitter was being held.

I stumbled into the warehouse as Anne left me.  
I looked to the skitter, then to Rick, then back to the skitter before running up to Rick and hugging him.  
"I've been so worried," I sighed and I wrapped my arms around his neck.  
He hugged me back, and we just stood there for minute.  
It was then that I remembered why I came here. It wasn't just to hug Rick again.

We'd gotten close in the time Ben and I grew apart. He was actually a really good friend of mine now.  
I was the only one who would listen to him.

When we let go, I turned to the guards.  
"Get out."  
"He-"  
"Get. Out."  
I gave them the most angry look I could come up with and they left us.  
After I looked back to Rick, I sighed.  
"You need to promise me to not tell Ben something. Okay?"  
He nodded, a bit confused.  
"Can I talk to you?" I looked to the skitter this time.  
"Yes, child. But we don't have much time before the professor comes. Or someone else to kill me off."  
I sighed.  
"First off, I'm not gonna let them kill you. Trust me, when I want something, I tend to get myself into a mess to make sure I get it. As selfish as that sounds," I was a little nervous to ask him of this favor, "I have a question that you both might be a bit startled by. And I'm guessing you'll say no at first, but I'd like you to let me explain before you decide your answer."  
The skitter nodded, "Proceed, then."


	7. Chapter 7

**Woo! I already have over 900 views on this story and it's only been posted for about 2 and a half weeks! And I have almost 6,000 on the first season's story! (: I hope you all like the two chaptrs I posted. Thanks everyone for reading / reviewing. c: **

When Mr. Mason came in with the others, they seemed confused to see me there.  
We were told to leave, so I gave Rick another hug and put my hand on the skitter's cage. He put his hand up too, and we partially touched. I smiled.  
"Thank you," I whispered before following Ben out.

"Why were you in there?" He was going to bug me about it.  
"Nothing, I just wanted to make sure he was okay."  
He shook his head, knowing I wouldn't tell.  
I leaned against his chest, my arm wrapped around my stomach.

"I tend to get hurt when I try to help someone," I mumbled into his shirt as he wrapped his arms around me.

"Thank you for doing that for him, by the way."  
I looked up to him and smiled, "I rather like him. He's cool."  
We stood there like that for the rest of the time, waiting.

.

When we heard mechs when Weaver stormed past us into the warehouse.  
He was accusing the skitter of leading them to us.  
It wasn't completely a lie, they were there to kill him. But it wasn't his choice.

"No! Wait!" Ben moved over to stand in front of the cage with Rick and Mr. Mason. I joined them.  
When Mr. Mason went against Weaver's orders, the skitter opened it's cage and ran.  
The men started shooting at it as it scurried across the top corner of the building.  
"No!" Rick yelled and stood in front of it as someone shot. They knocked him back onto the ground, choking for air.  
"Rick!" Ben and I yelled running towards the boy.  
"Rick," Ben was putting his hand on the wound, trying to stop it from bleeding even though it was hopeless.  
"Ben," Rick's voice was just a whisper, "It's okay. It's only one person, it doesn't matter. We'll win it, I know it. Just, talk to your father. You have a father, Ben. Make him believe. Make them believe."

Then Rick looked to me, "Good luck."

He looked back to Ben, "You- you can do it."  
He wasn't getting any air. His chest stopped rising and I sat back, starring at his dead body.

"Rick.." I felt tears go down my face.  
Ben and his father were talking, but I wasn't paying an attention. I had lost someone else now. Why was I losing everyone?

.

When we moved to the hospital, I refused to go unless we took Rick's body so we could bury it.  
I kissed the cross on his grave too, before marking it on the map I carried with me now. It had the spot Jimmy was buried at marked on it. I made him a promise to get his body once this was over, to give him a proper burial. I didn't have my sister's and parents marked, but I knew exactly where we were then.

When I heard about Maggie getting hurt, I went straight to her room to make sure she was okay. Instead of finding her bored though, I found her with Hal.

"Oh, erm, sorry," I smiled and started to turn away.  
"No, it's okay. Come in," Maggie was quick to stop me.  
I looked to Hal and he got the hint to leave.  
"I'll have him come back once I'm done," I smiled to her and sat in the chair he was sitting in, "How are you?"  
"Good. If it wasn't for Hal, I wouldn't be here. Stupid boy went after me after I got hurt."  
I laughed, "That's his job though."  
She gave me a smile before questioning me, "So, why'd you come here."  
My smile fell a little and I looked to my hands, "I need to tell you something. I can't just keep it a secret. Now that Rick's gone I can't.. I have no one to talk about it with. But you have to let me do this, okay?"  
She understood. I hated to put this on her and ask her to keep quiet, but I didn't have anyone else I trusted as much as her right now that would actually listen and help.

.

I went to visit Weaver next only to find him almost asleep.  
"Hey, I just wanted to make sure you were okay," I gave him a worried smile.  
"Yah, why wouldn't I be?" He seemed a bit nervous with my question.  
"Because of your daughter? You've just lost two people that were family to you so…" I sat on the edge of the bed, "I just wanted to check in."  
"Well thank yah," He gave me a nod, "I'll be fine."  
"Okay, well, I'll be here," I hated saying that, but I felt like I had to, "Goodnight."  
With that I walked away. I wanted to go to the roof, but I knew Ben was there. I couldn't see him right now. It just wouldn't be good. I didn't want to risk telling him.  
That would be the end of it.

.

As Maggie and I got better and our injuries healed, we started going on scouts together. She kept talking to me and seemed to know exactly what I needed. It was nice to have girl talk too, that's something I didn't really do before. I only ever talked to Ben.  
She wasn't just helping me though, I was listening to her bottled up emotions and problems too. I was trying to give advice, but in the end she was the one to decide. My job was more to listen to her so she could figure things out. She was like me, talking about it out loud gave you a new perspective. And it helped figure out what you couldn't in your head.

It felt like time was going by really slowly. When I wasn't with Maggie, I was sitting on the roof or helping Matt with his training. Ben had questioned me a few times about the awkward tension but I tried my hardest to shrug it off. It was just so hard to do that with someone you would've once gone to when things like this happened.

.

"Okay, what's going on?" Ben had found me hiding out on the roof. I had tried my hardest today to avoid him but he seemed to be everywhere.  
I looked up to him, "Nothin'. Why?"  
He sat next to me, hanging his feet over the edge like I was doing.  
"You're a horrible liar, 'Stella," he wouldn't stop looking at me.  
"No, you're just too close to me."  
I realized how horrible that sounded after I'd said it, but there wasn't much I could do about it.  
"What?"  
I sighed and looked to him, "I - I just.." I started to lose my words, "You just know me too well. Yah, that's what I meant."  
He put his hand on my cheek but I turned away.  
"See? There's something going on. What'd I do?"  
"You didn't do anything. Okay? It's just-" I tried to think of an excuse, "I miss Jeremy."  
I blurted it out without thinking and took a deep breath afterwards.  
"Oh, uhm," He was at a loss for words this time, "I'm sorry. I'll just go."  
When he went to get up I grabbed his hand, "No. Not like that."  
I couldn't take it anymore. I stood and collapsed into his arms, mine around his neck. I wasn't going to talk, but I needed a moment to remember with him.  
"I'm a little everywhere lately. With everyone dying and getting hurt and disappearing.. It's so much for me. This is one of my biggest fears - to lose everyone close to me. You know that. And it feels like it's coming true."  
He took my face in his hands and made me look into his eyes, "You won't lose everyone. Promise."  
Oh how wrong he was.  
"Okay," I didn't know what else to say. Looking into his eyes made me lose myself. I stood on my tip-toes and pressed my lips against his lightly before knowing I shouldn't have.  
I pulled away as quickly as I did it and turned around, "Sorry. I shouldn't have.. It's not nice of me to do. I know, you don't understand, but you will," I turned back to look at him, "Please don't take this the wrong way. You know how I feel about you. Remember that. It's complicated. And I can't tell you. But you know how much I care for you."  
The words stumbled out of my mouth pretty fast, but I didn't want to stand there anymore so I ran.  
I wasn't allowed to be like that with him. Not yet.


	8. Chapter 8

**So, obviously, this is a stupidly short chapter. BUT, I'm a bit stuck on where to go from here, and I wanted to at least post this so you guys wouldn't be too grumpy with me not posting in a while. D: I'm talking to a buncha my readers about ideas for what I want to do, and I think I've got a plan. c:  
****And~ I'd like to thank you all. For my first story, as of 9:20 pm this day, it's had 6,376 views! And, my second story has had 1,354 views! It's been posted almost a month. But, I think that's an awesome amount of views anyways! I feel special because you all are reading these. c:  
**

Needless to say, I was doing something I wasn't supposed to be doing again. Earlier I had told my goodbyes to Maggie, had her take my compass and dog tags, and set out on my journey. We were quite a walk from where I was going as we had moved to the hospital after I had made my plans. I didn't mind it though. The air was chilly and the dark roads were empty. It gave me time to think, wonder about what had happened in the past few months. I was still cautious of my decision but Maggie had agreed this needed to be done. Everyone knew it would happen anyways. But Ben.. Everyone would also hit me when they found out. When they found me.  
I needed to stop thinking about the bad. I wanted to think of the good memories I had. Of Ben, of Jimmy, my family. I wanted to end things on a happy note.

Sooner than expected I had made my way to the factory. Last time I was here it was without choice. Now I was willingly making my way through the hallways and into the room where I had my first experience with a harness.

The red eye skitter and a friend of his were waiting in the room patiently. The harness Ben had shot was still laying on the floor, lifeless. I wondered if it hurt them when you killed one of those… things.

"Okay, so I'm going to trust you. Please, don't make me regret it. You know I just want to help," I was looking at both of them when I said it. I felt like they could understand. It seemed like they could.

I laid down onto the table, thankful they weren't going to put the restraints on my wrists. I know now how creepy it's going to feel. And once it's on me I'll be still, just like the boy had been when we were here before.

I wondered where they'd get a harness since Ben had destroyed the tank, but I saw the friend leave and come back with one wiggling around. I took a deep breath and put my face down, my hands balled into fists. I could feel blood coming from my palms from digging my nails into them.

The skitter put the harness on my back and I felt it crawl across my spine again. When I felt it lift part of it's body up, I took a deep breath and thought about happy thoughts. A happy place with everyone I cared about.

Then, I thought about nothing.


	9. Chapter 9

**Woo! Remedy's catching up! Sorry I haven't posted. I wanted to see where it'd go because I was afraid to write anymore until I knew what happened. Dx Okay, so I'mma guess you guys would catch on anyways, but I'm telling you. Italics mean they're talking to eachother through their thoughts. And I brought some people back, if you missed them then here they are. c: I hope you like this one. :D **

Being harnessed was nothing like I thought it would be. The family I was put in.. well they were all amazing. After Jimmy died, I didn't have a family anymore. This was a gift.

'_We need to hurry. Our brother will be waiting.'_

_'I know, I know. I won't be long.'_

_'I don't mind it as much as he does, you know that. Girls always need to rest more. Even if we're.. us.'_

_'Do you think he's gonna be mad?'_

_'Since when did he get mad at you, Meredith? He's always been nice to you. I'm the one he got mad at.'_

_'That's 'cause you punched him in the face though 'Stella.'_

_'Hey, he deserved that.'_

I felt like I was smiling, but I know I wasn't really. It was like everything that happened was in my head. I didn't mind it. It was interesting.

_'Kay, we need to get going. We need to catch up to him before he gets too far ahead.'_

I pulled her up and we began to run down the street. I didn't know where we were. I just remember being ordered to run this area. I had a mental map set up in my head of where to turn and where to back track. We were looking for something. Our guardian would tell us we found it when we did.

'_Took yah long enough.'_

_'Oh shut it Jeremy. You've gotta give her a break, she's younger.'_

_'I know. I was talking to you.'_

I felt us smiling at each other again. It was good to have them back.

_'When will we meet up with the others? I thought we were supposed to close to here. I don't feel them though.'_

_'They'll be here Meredith. You know that.'_

_'I need to run my routes though. They need to hurry. We stopped for a break and we're the first ones here.'_

_'I bet they were further away than us.'_

I tried to stay out of these conversations. They were blood related, and even though we were a family now a feeling always tried to tug it's way out of my memories. About butting into conversations. I couldn't ever place it but that was enough to keep myself quiet.

I'd been harnessed for almost two months now. My joining was a date I wanted to always remember. I don't know why, but I felt the need to count how long I'd been in the family.

After about ten more minutes of waiting two kids showed up. They were both boys. They didn't know each other before the joining, but they seemed to always be paired together now.

One's name was Sean, he was Meredith's age. He had jet black hair that always seemed naturally messy and a slight tan. He never seemed to get any color on his skin even though he was out in the sun all day. He was taller than me, but every guy in the family was.

The other boy was Tyler. He had perfectly red hair and very tan skin. He was Jimmy's age, and almost as tall as him. He knew that's why I seemed to care about him so much, and I was glad he didn't mind it.

I guess no one minded it since they're my brothers and sisters.

'_C'mon Mere, our route's this way.'_

Sean led Meredith off to the east. Tyler grouped off with Jeremy to go west once the other three got here.

The rest of our family was Hanna, Ian, and Pip.

Hanna was my age and looked almost exactly like me. Her hair was a natural sandy blonde though and she had a Florida tan. That was the only difference besides our eye color. She wasn't paired up with me a lot so I never really got to know her background.

Ian was eighteen, which confused me a lot. He turned eighteen after his joining though. He was Hanna's blood related brother, but his hair was black with bleached tips, as long and messy as Tyler's was. He was as tall as Jeremy and almost as strong.

Pip was also my age, but he was such an odd character. His real name was Patrick, but no one had called him that since he was joined, even before he was. His hair was dyed green before the invasion so his light brown hair had grown out a lot. His hair was longer than Jimmy's, and he was a bit taller than him. His skin was about as pale as mine.

Hanna and Ian were paired off to go the way we came and circle around so Pip and I went north.

'_Took yah guys long enough to get here. Where were you all?' _

_'We were with our guardian. We had been with her since she sent you all out. What about you?'_

_'We were sent to the neighboring city. We had to run to this one. Apparently we were closest though. Do you know where Tyler and Sean were sent to?'_

_'Nah, but it wouldn't matter either way. You know those two are always in a troubling situation.'_

We smiled. We were running along the streets and checking in buildings. They hadn't been sending harnessed kids to do this type of work until recently. When I had been joined they were just starting. I was glad we weren't doing heavy labor. I don't think any of us girls could take it.

_'I heard you're going with one of the overlords tomorrow too. Jeremy and Meredith are going as well. What about the others?'_

_'They haven't mentioned it. And going with an overlord is usually something to mention. So I guess they're staying behind.'_

_'I don't know if I should say they're lucky or they're missing out.'_

_'Guess it depends. People that're sent to go with an overlord are usually safe.'_

_'Usually.'_

I didn't know why I said that. Why I implied that it wouldn't go that way just because I was going to be there. I felt like it was something from my past. I wish I could remember more than my family. I only remembered their faces and names. I remembered the Masons, but they felt like family too. Except for Ben Mason. There was something about his memory that I couldn't place. A different type of caring.

_'It seems as though we haven't found it. We should head back then.'_

I nodded and followed him as we ran back to the meeting place. Tyler and Jeremy were already there. I felt Meredith and Sean close. But no Hanna or Ian.

_'Where are they? If we had all finished, they should be-"_

I was interrupted by our guardian.

_'Time to come home young ones. Let the older kids do the rest of the work.'_

We told Sean, Tyler, and Meredith goodbye and waited for Hanna and Ian. After a while of them not showing, our guardian talked to us again.

_'Older ones, I'm contacting you all directly. Go south, where Hanna and Ian went. They have found what I sent you all to look for. You should connect to them once you're close.'_

We obeyed and went south. We all ran for a good hour and a half before we felt the connection, and followed it off the street and into the woods to our right.

They were standing at a ledge, and once we came closer we understood why they seemed oddly still. We were looking at an abandoned air station. About thirty guardians were dead. There was still a part of the army, but only three machined ones left. They were guarding an injured overlord.

We all took off at once down the ledge and into the ditch. We were told to stop once we came close to the overlord, but we were still shaky when we were standing still.

'_I am injured. I need you all to help guard me as I am led back to an air station near. Do you understand?'_

_'Yes, overlord.'_

We all responded in unison, kneeling in front of him.

_'Good, then let's get on our way.'_


	10. Chapter 10

Guarding an overlord was one of the biggest honors we could have. Though I didn't like the sound of it. Part of me felt like 'guarding' was something different than what we were told. I didn't know why though.

We didn't run into any trouble we couldn't handle as we went to the air station. We had picked up some guns we found abandoned when we went through a city nearby but only used them when needed. We were to use our guns before the machined ones were to fire. They needed to save what ammo they had left.

We had shot a few humans on the way, but we had no time to kill them. Only injure them. Under normal circumstances we would kill them after they became so badly injured. It didn't seem like many were anyways, so I didn't feel bothered by it. I was under the overlord's command anyways. I couldn't do anything if I tried.

After we got him safely on a ship we headed back home to our guardian. We were four cities away so we didn't reach home until sunrise. She left us to sleep, praising us for our good work. We were to have as much time to sleep as needed before doing our jobs for today.

It was weird, sleeping without our guardian. We've done it before when there's no time to get home and our bodies need it too desperately, but sleeping at home without her was different. It felt like I had no blanket though there was one close.

I was able to get to sleep though. It took a little longer than usual, but after curling up and calming my body I found it.

.

I woke up to Hanna and Ian gone. Tyler was home with Sean and Meredith, but I didn't feel Jeremy or Pip anywhere.

_'Guardian, where's Jeremy and Pip? I'm usually teamed with Pip when you send him out.'_

_'I know Estella. But it was a job for men to do. Labor is not your strong point, you know this.'_

_'Oh. Yes I understand guardian. What about Hanna and Ian?'_

_'They were sent to make sure the overlord was okay. We should respect him, after all we were lucky enough to be assigned to help him.'_

I nodded and went to find Meredith. She was outside, cleaning the leaves off the ground around the area. I began to help her and we spent most of our day talking and clearing leaves.

When the sun began to fall from the sky, Jeremy, Meredith, Pip and I were sent on our way with our Guardian as Tyler and Sean were sent to do labor in place of Jeremy and Pip. Hanna and Ian were still gone.

_'This is an exciting thing, yes children?'_

_'Yes. Helping one overlord then getting to go on a job with another is an amazing thing.'_

_'Well, you know he only wanted you Estella, but I told him Jeremy and Pip would be a great help too if needed. And I couldn't just leave Meredith home alone.'_

_'I'm glad you had them come along then. It would be a little overwhelming to be on my own.'_

_'I know. I put that in mind when I told him as well.'_

_'Thank you, guardian.'_

I felt myself mentally smile again. Meredith had a feeling of pride that an overlord allowed her to come along even though he hadn't intended her to. I think none of us could feel our own emotions over hers.

When I got there, I began to feel mentally ill and depressed. I didn't know why. It had been tugging at me for a while, then got free and sent a huge wave of emotions over everyone in the area.

We were here for help once Karen led Ben Mason back to us. I didn't know why, but hearing that sent me off edge.

_'I'm sorry, guardian. And brothers and sister. I don't know why I feel this.'_

_'It's from your past. It's bound to happen, especially since this was once your family before us.'_

I was glad my guardian understood. Jeremy and Meredith seemed to understand based off a past memory they shared trying to set itself free as well.

When I heard his voice, it calmed me. Then I felt him connect to us.  
I couldn't watch as Karen spoke to him, getting ready to harness him. But I felt something from her and turned to see her get close to him. It made me strangely angry.

My emotions were interrupted by gun shots. The second mass had come for Ben.

_'Come, children. You're needed elsewhere now.'_

We slipped away as the fighting began. I didn't understand. None of us did. We couldn't feel connections from anyone besides each other.

_'Guardian, where are we going?'_

We stopped at a clearing. We were on a trail.

_'I'm sorry, children. But I must leave you now. Please remember how much I love you all.'_

_'But-'_

I was cut off by being sent into a type of sleep from her. We all were.

It felt like how I felt when I was in between being human and being joined.  
That weird.. Nothingness.

I felt nothing.


	11. Chapter 11

**Woo! I've been so excited to write up to this part. c: I hope you like reading it as much as I do writing it. xD **

I remember hearing voices. And feeling myself carried. I remember feeling… disconnected. But I couldn't hold onto any of the moments long enough to wake myself up.

.

My eyes opened as a sensation went down my spine. I literally jumped off of the bed I was laying on and crashed into things around me.

" 'Stella, it's okay. It's me, Maggie."  
I remembered her. A huge wave of memories came back to me at once and I knelt to the ground, clutching my head. The memories weren't only my own. I was connected to another.

" 'Stella! Are you okay?" Anne came and knelt next to me, Maggie on my other side.  
I looked up through my hair, only just now realizing my breathing was shallow.

"You need to lay back down." Anne tried pulling me up but I yanked free.  
"Estella, calm down. Please," Maggie put a hand on my shoulder. I didn't react negatively when she did that. She was like my sister. The memories of her were the strongest right now.  
I looked to her before I saw what was in her hand.  
"Can I.." My voice was weak.  
She understood what I meant though, and handed me back my dog tags and compass.

I put them on before feeling the sensation go down my spine again and jumped.

This time I heard him.

I looked around before seeing him standing in the doorway.  
"Get out of my head, Ben."  
My voice wasn't weak then. It was hostile. Angry.

"I-I just-" He couldn't seem to find any words. The connection wouldn't go away though. He was seeing everything. All my memories. The times when I was harnessed. The emotions before then. The breakdowns. The tears.  
I was seeing his too. I didn't pay any attention to them, but I could feel them mixing into my own memories.

"Estella, please lay down," Anne didn't touch me this time. She was hesitant to even talk.  
It was then that I realized what had happened before now.

"Where's my guardian? Where's Pip?" I became anxious now, looking around.  
"Who?" Anne was obviously confused. But Ben understood.

"We didn't see your guardian when we found you all. Pip's here with Jeremy and Meredith. We got their harnesses off too."  
I tried to find a connection with them, but couldn't. It was then that I realized I couldn't feel anyone but Ben.

"My harness…"  
I could feel it in Ben. He understood my emotions. He understood why I felt horrible for having it off. But, at the same time I was glad.

I heard Pip's voice and jumped.

"Pip! Patrick!" I ran past Ben and into another room. I didn't know this part of the hospital well. I turned and ran down the hall and into the infirmary room. Pip, Meredith, and Jeremy were laying in beds on their stomachs.  
Pip was the only one stirring.

"Estella.." his voice was quiet. I ran to him and knelt down so he could see me.  
"I'm here. It's okay brother, I'm here," I took his hand and pushed his hair out of his eyes.

He looked to me and smiled a little, "Where are we?"  
"We're with my old family. In the hospital."

His eyes seemed to go hallow for a second when he realized his connection with me wasn't from the harness. Once Ben walked in the room, he felt him too.  
"Get out Ben," I turned to the doorway and saw him standing there, confused.  
"He's not your brother, 'Stella," Ben stepped closer.  
"I told you, get out. I don't want you here."  
I saw hurt in his eyes. Felt it. Others were filing in front of the doorway behind him. Apparently everyone wanted to see this.

"Please, listen to me," Ben stepped even closer. He cleared half the space between us now.

I stood, never letting go of Pip's hand, and narrowed my eyes.

"Nothing you're saying is true. You know how it felt. It feels. You would be feeling this way too, if any of your family had survived."  
I saw his expression change. He was angry. Sad. At his dad. At me. At his brother. He would like to have his family here too.

"My family is here-"  
"I can feel it Ben! You know I can!"  
He hadn't moved anymore, but he dared another step at this. I was beginning to make him mad.  
"Shut up 'Stella," His tone was threatening. I took a quick glance around the room and saw that Pip, Jeremy and Meredith were the only ones in here. Meredith and Jeremy were to my right, Pip here, and the rest of the room to my left was empty.  
"You really wanna do this? I have a chance now. You won't be the strongest one here anymore."  
"You think you're stronger than me? You've been harnessed two months. You've got nothing on me."  
"They do too. But go ahead. If I've gotten under your skin that well, this is going to be a fun time until I find my guardian."  
"You aren't going back Estella!"  
I let go of Pip's hand.  
"I have a family to take care of again. They won't survive without our guardian. They don't have any family besides us. And you'll tear us apart!"  
"They aren't your family. Jimmy was your family. And your mom and dad. And your little sister. Not them!"  
"Shut up!" I ran at him, tackling him into the wall on the other side of the room. People from the doorway moved back, startled.

He pushed back, forcing me to back step. He was strong, I'll give him that.  
He switched positions and I was the one with my back to the wall now.

"You want to try that again?" His voice was quiet. His face was so close I could feel his breath.  
After living with guys who can feel memories, I learned a thing or two about hiding certain ones. So he didn't know that when I leaned in to kiss him, I was going to knee him in the stomach and pick him up by the collar of his shirt.

"Poor Ben. Guess this proves I'm not as weak as you think I am," I had a smirk on my face, and I could feel his anger rise.  
He gripped my wrists, squeezing as hard as he could. I felt it begin to hurt me and flung him across the room.  
"Screw you!" I held my left wrist gently. It was the one I'd broken.  
Pip felt my pain and decided it was his turn to step in. He'd be harnessed longer than Ben, but not long enough to start his transformation.

"Back off Ben," He stood between Ben and I.  
I felt Jeremy jump awake at the connection, but Meredith was somehow sleeping through all of this.

His worry was almost as strong as Pip's and it was making me feel a lot more emotions than I already felt. Which was bad for someone with bipolar.

I watched as Pip and Ben went at it, throwing each other around the room as Jeremy came to tend my hurt wrist.  
"I don't think it's broken," I whispered, "But it definitely hurts."  
"Can I hit him now?" Pip yelled from the other end of the room.  
"No, hold him."  
I nodded to Jeremy and walked over to Ben, who was struggling against Pip's grip.

"Pip was harnessed for almost nine months. He's stronger than you. This is the first time he's used violence, as you can feel. I guess it's a good thing or you'd be a lot more beat up than you are."  
"I don't even hurt, you know that," Ben growled.  
"Yes you do. As much as I do," My voice was shaky when I said that, concentrating on the emotions we shared. It was a lot harder than it seemed.  
I was ready to take a swing at him when Tom entered the room.  
"What on earth is going on here?!"  
I turned to look at him, then looked to Jeremy. He walked over to Tom, and picked him up and put him outside the doorway.  
"You walk in there, you'll probably get hurt. It's a lot easier to hurt you than it is to hurt us," Jeremy said. I heard his footsteps come closer to me.  
"Go back take care of your sister," I put a hand on his arm and sighed, "Let go of him Pip."  
Ben wiggled free and growled, "You're even worse now than you were before."  
I balled my hands into fists. Pip moved away just in time for me to punch Ben in the face, sending him back into the wall again. I turned, holding my throbbing wrist.  
"Good. Then that means I won't be the only one in this relationship treated like crap anymore."


	12. Chapter 12

**Okay! So, I felt the need to have a chapter like this before the whole Ben leaving situation(Hopefully the people reading this knew about that, it was two episodes ago after all, .)  
****I'm going on vacation next week, soooo I dunno if I'll be writing or not. I'mma try to catch this all the way up though so if I do watch this sunday's episode at the hotel, I can just continue from where I left off. c:  
****I feel like this may be a little out of place, but others have told me I'm wrong and that it's fine. xD  
**

Obviously, everyone would want us gone after that disaster. But they wanted Ben gone too.  
After I had hit Ben, Jeremy got Meredith and followed Pip and I up to the roof to hide out. We could hear everyone, everything around us. But we didn't pay attention to any of it. Occasionally, we'd hear people yelling and arguing about wanting us gone. It was okay though. We wanted to be gone.  
"I just don't.. I don't understand. All these different emotions fighting each other. Why can't we just either miss our harnessed life or be thankful for having the stupid thing off?" Pip was walking in circles. He made me anxious just by doing that.  
"Because the feeling of loss is still strong."  
We turned to see Ben behind us, his eye blackening.  
I stood defensively in front of the others as he came closer.  
"I'm not gonna get hit anyone, don't worry."  
I balled and un clenched my hands as I tried to find what I wanted to say. Obviously, he could feel a lot of different things. But that didn't mean he knew what I wanted to say.  
"I didn't mean to be so hostile. It was startling, and you were being a jerk, and I over reacted. My anger is harder to control than I thought it would be once I got the harness off. I didn't know I would miss.. That."  
He sighed, "It's gonna take a while to control your anger. You never had control of it in the first place, though."  
He smiled a little and I couldn't help but smile back, "I guess so. I don't think it's changed me as much as I thought it would though."  
Another sigh escaped his lips.  
"Can we go somewhere.. Without the other connections?"  
I looked to the others.  
"I'll only be a while, okay? I need to talk to him. You.. You know that."  
Pip gave me a sympathetic smile and hugged me, whispering that he'll kill Ben if he tried to hurt me. Jeremy wasn't speaking much, but I felt him say goodbye. He was having trouble figuring out how he felt about me now that he wasn't harnessed anymore. He had liked me, a lot, before he was harnessed. Then we were brother and sister. It was confusing.  
Ben nodded in the direction of the woods and I agreed, jumping down to the ground with him.  
"I don't think I'm ever gonna get used to all these super powers."  
He laughed, "Of course, the comic book freak would think they were super powers."  
"Hey! I bet you do too, deep down," I nudged him as we walked into the trees. I felt our connection to the others disappear and sighed.  
"I think I've had enough of them in my head for one night."  
He didn't say anything for a long moment as we stopped.  
"I don't know what to.. There's so many things I can't figure out," he finally broke the silence as he leaned against a tree.  
"What do you mean?"  
He locked eyes with me, "Why'd you do it?"  
I didn't answer for a long moment, my thoughts gathering. I felt myself become a little teary eyed, though I didn't know why. I never once broke our gaze though.  
"You know why," I finally whispered.  
The connection grew stronger then. All of our longing for eachother, him missing me, me fighting so hard with myself and the aliens to keep him, it all surfaced at once.  
I ran into his arms and kissed him, pulling him close to me as I did so. The feeling was so intense. That was the only word I could think of to describe it. Between our connection mentally and the connection physically I felt the rest of the world just melt away.  
When we pulled away, I looked up into his eyes again.  
"I've been wanting to tell you I loved you since the night on the rooftop before you left," he whispered against my lips.  
I looked down, "I'm sorry about that. I didn't want it to hurt worse."  
He pulled away a little more and used his index finger to lift my face up to look at him again, "It's okay. I understand now."  
I smiled and put my head on his shoulder, my heart racing.  
He laughed and picked me up so I was stepping on his feet, "You're really short, you know that?"  
I couldn't help but laugh in response, shoving him a little.  
"Shut it, I can't control that."  
When we finally broke apart completely, he grew silent again.  
"Our relationship is going to be very up and down isn't it.."  
I looked to him, confused by his question, "Why do you think that?"  
"We're harnessed kids. We're angry. And depressed. And we want revenge more than anything. And we're going to lash out on each other now more than ever, since you have all the feelings I had before Jimmy died-"  
He stopped talking after he said that, feeling my emotions drop. I hadn't thought about Jimmy. I had almost mentally replaced him with Pip when I was harnessed.  
"I'm sorry.." He walked closer, taking my hand in his.  
"I just- I just don't wanna think about it right now. But, I know what you mean. I'll just try to savor the good moments we have and try not to give you another black eye during the bad ones," I smiled up to him slightly, but I could tell he knew it was forced.  
"We should get back now, they're probably wondering where we went."  
I nodded and we took off back to the hospital, hand in hand.  
"Hey Ben?"  
"Yah?"  
"I love you too."

**Okay, I just had to add this at the end, but I FINALLY had them say it to eachother! After bringing it up in the first season when Jimmy asked if she loved Ben, I don't think I've mentioned it much. But, AWH, :DD  
Girly moment over, I REALLY hope you guys liked this one. . **


	13. Chapter 13

**  
****This is a huge author's note. I apologize. I just wanted to get it all out in one instead of spreading it out over the next few chapters I'm posting. xD **  
Ahhh! My first story broke 7,000 views! :D Sorry for not posting last week. Didn't get around to writing. (for anyone who doesn't care to hear about my vacation, as I doubt many of you do, just skip over this part, xD)  
I walked over 5 miles every day in Washington D.C. (the U.S. capital) and got to see my best friend & boyfriend. c: It was pretty awesome. I got 11 pins - I collect pins for my pin hat - and have no room on my hat for them. TT-TT I was able to stand in the theatre President Lincoln was shot at though! It was such an amazing moment for me, as I'm a history freak. :D I'm glad to be home though.  
*I dunno if I'll finish the story this week as I have a Linkin Park concert to go to wednesday :D, but I will by next week. I start school next week, meh. Dx **Okay, no more rant about my vacation. *I think I'll write a prequel while we wait for season 3. And maybe a walking dead fanfiction. I'm still thinkin' about it. (Go ahead and tell me if you're interested in either though in the reviews or a private message if you'd like,c: )  
AND THOSE CREEPY ALIENS AT THE END OF THE FINALE, OHMYGOD. AND ANNE'S PREGGERS, AND BEN'S FINALLY STAYING, AND HAL'S GOT THAT THING IN HIS HEAD, I HATE THE DROP OFFS THEY GIVE US. But it'll be awesome to write season 3, I can already tell. xD  
**

"Tom Mason! Tom, are you there?"  
I stood from my spot on the rooftop and looked down the street to see Karen holding a white flag. Rage filled me as I half listened to them talk and Pip had to hold me back. After her scene with Ben, I wanted to kill her - to put it bluntly.

"Calm down 'Stell," Pip had his arm hooked between mine, holding them behind my back, "Her time will come. Relax."  
I felt Meredith become scared and sighed, forcing myself calm.  
"Sorry Mere," I walked over to her once Pip let me go, "I've still gotta get used to this."  
She looked up to me, her puppy dog eyes filled with worry, not fear, "I want you to be okay again."  
I laughed, picking her up and hugging her, "I was never okay."  
I turned to look at Karen when I heard her last words, "He talked to you when you were aboard his ship."  
"They have the overlord?"  
I put Meredith down and walked over to the edge of the roof, "They seriously caught the overlord?"  
Before I had time to digest that news, I caught wind of Ben's voice a few floors below me, arguing with his dad. He was going to leave after we left the hospital.

He was going to leave me, after that.  
It pieced together then. That was his goodbye. And when he talked about our relationship being up and down, he meant because of him leaving. He took me away to say he loved me before he left. It should have made me feel glad that he'd want to do that. But I only felt hurt, anger, confusion. So far the time with my harness off has been a crappy one.

I ran before anyone got to talk to me, loosing our connection easily as I jumped off the roof and into the hospital. I walked aimlessly throughout the hallways, trying to find him. No. Trying to find someone else. I needed a hug from someone who didn't see everything in my head.  
"You lost, trouble maker?"  
I turned to see Tector, someone I had only talked to once before now.

"Eh.." I spun in a circle to see that I really was lost, "A little. I'm trying to find the psyche ward."  
"So you can talk to that fish head?" He laughed as he waved me to follow him, "It's pretty creepy looking. Didn't you talk to it when you were harnessed?"  
"No," I shook my head, "It was considered an honor to be brought on a mission for an overlord, but we were only sent so the guardian we had - one of the rebellion - could free me like I had asked before I was harnessed."  
He laughed again, "Man, I don't think I'll ever follow what's going on around here."

We walked up some stairs and to the left. I hadn't been on this floor before, "I don't think I can either."

"You gonna talk to it?"  
I looked to him, "You don't sound worried when you ask a question like that."  
He turned to look back at me, a bit of a smile played on his lips, "You've only been here to help. I don't think you'd turn on us. Not now."

I could sense him now. The overlord was amused. But it was pretending to be caught. I didn't understand.  
"I can go from here."  
"You sure? We're not even close though."  
"I can sense him. I'll find him," I smiled to thank him before wandering off.

"You're welcome!"

.

Instead of going to talk to him though, I circled where he was at a few floors below my feet, wanting to hit something. I couldn't destroy another room in this hospital though. I still felt bad for the one.

"Jimmy.. I wish you were here to help," I whispered, my hand going to the compass around my neck, "You'd know what to do, what to say, to calm me down."

I heard Karen's voice and leaned out the window. Boon was standing next to Karen, a Mech behind them.

"Oh no.."

He started limping his way to our lines. But when he was half way there, the Mech started shooting him in the back until he fell to the ground, defeated.  
I watched Tector fire aimlessly. I didn't blame him. I was even tearing up. I never liked Boon, but he was one of us.  
I took off to the overlord's chambers. I was angry again. And I wanted it dead.  
When I was walking towards the stairs, I felt Ben going towards them too. The overlord would surely hurt him.

"Dumb boy and his stupid ideas," I mumbled as I started to run there.  
I turned a few corners and went down more stairs before standing at the end of the hallway, watching, listening to the conversation.

"He took Ben over," Pip whispered from behind me, holding my hand, "He'll hurt him if you hurt him."  
I stood there, clinging to Pip's hand until the moment the overlord started to torture Ben.

"There, he's torturing him," I took the revolver out of the hands of a guard in the hallway and stormed into the room, the gun aimed at the overlord's chest while I felt him invade my mind.

_These emotions make us stronger, not weaker you pathetic alien._

I pulled the trigger.


	14. Chapter 14

**Sad chapter. D: **

Weaver was chewing me out for shooting the overlord, telling me my emotions were getting in the way.  
Tom came to defend me, then they got at it about the rebellion. I was about to yell that it was real but Tom convinced him for me.

I was about to leave when they said they should bring Karen here to see the overlord.

I wanted to see this.

.

She walked past me, Hal behind her, and smirked. Pip squeezed my hand to hold me where I was.  
She was talking about how she knew what was going to happen, before stopping at Ben next to me. I took his hand with my other one and squeezed.  
"Something's happened to him, what have you done?" Karen ran into the cage and went to tend to the overlord before running at Tom.

Ben caught her, holding her so his dad and brother could talk to them.

"I wish he'd kill her. Why don't we just kill her? And why're we giving him back to them? We should keep him. He's important," I started ranting on to Pip as I watched, "And trusting Pope with explosives is brave. I wish I could tell him to blow the place up anyways."  
Pip laughed, "That man seems crazy."  
"That man is crazy."  
I smiled a little at that thought, Pip's cheerful mood starting to cheer me up too. One good thing about our connection was that they could calm me down forcefully if needed. I liked that, as weird as it seems. I need something like it.

.

It was weird, the Mechs watching us as we got things ready to leave. We packed up all the cars we could, fixed the people in the med bus, and stocked up on supplies while we could. We stopped once we were far enough away and refueled. Weaver was talking to Pip and Jeremy about where we'd be put. Not many people wanted us to be in a car with them.

I was wandering around though, waiting. I didn't know when Ben would be leaving so I was watching, waiting to stop him when he did decide to take off. It was beginning to eat me alive.

I knew Jimmy would be yelling at me right now. Telling me to just talk to him. To stop being an idiot.

I wanted to so badly. But without Jimmy here to give me the push, I couldn't seem to do it.

.

I didn't see him leave while I waited. When Tom came walking my way looking sad, I stopped him.  
"He left didn't he?"

He looked to me, sorrow in his eyes, and nodded.  
"Which way did he go?"  
"Estella you can't stop-"

"Which way did he go!"

People turned to look at me. I was starting to tear up again. I wanted to say goodbye. For real.

"That way.." Tom pointed towards the street.  
I sighed before taking off after Ben.

.

"You're just gonna leave without saying goodbye?" I yelled, standing a few yards away from him. It took me a while to catch up to him.  
He stopped, putting his head down.  
"Why'd you follow me? I'm not letting you come with me 'Stella."  
I took a shaky breath.  
"Why didn't you have the courage to tell me goodbye like a man? If you have the courage to go off to the rebellion."  
"Because I knew you'd wanna come with me," he turned to look at me now.  
I shook my head, "I'd ask you to stay."

"I need to do this, you have to understand. You have to let me go," he started to walk towards me, "Oh, don't cry 'Stella. It's not the last time you'll see me."  
"My best friend, the boy I love, he's walking away from me. He's straight up telling me that he's leaving me behind to go off and do something he doesn't need to be doing. Leaving his family behind. You're all I have now. I know, I have my family, but it's not the same. You were my life before them. And you're walking away."  
He came up to try to wipe away a tear going down my cheek but I turned away, stepping back.  
"Don't do this 'Stella. It's not forever."  
I looked to him again, my eyes locking with his, and shook my head.  
"It could be. With all the humans that hate harnessed kids, it very well could be forever."  
He watched me for a long moment before connecting. He knew how to keep it from happening better than I did, so he could easily break the barrier to get into my head.  
"Why aren't you trying to come with me?"  
"Because I'm tired of hurting everyone and leaving everyone."  
"You got harnessed to help the skitter rebellion. Why're you stopping me from going?"  
"I did it so when they came to us I could help. Not so I could run away to them. We need people here who can communicate with them when they come around."  
He laughed, "You're fooling yourself."  
I shook my head, "No. You're being stupid."  
He threw his hands in the air, "Whatever 'Stella. Stop being so ridiculous."  
I took his arm and pulled him back to me, kissing him. I could taste my tears on my lips but didn't dare let go of him anyways.  
"You need to stay careful, dummy," I mumbled as I hugged him as tight as I could, "And you better come back or I'm shooting you in the leg when I find you."  
"Well geez, don't try to scare me or anything," he smiled a little, "I'll at least come back for another moment like this. It won't be forever."  
I let go and sniffled, wiping my tears away with my sleeve, "Just, don't come back telling me you've found someone better. I'd rather you not come back at all."  
He moved my hand and took my face in his, "There's no one better than you Estella. That I can promise."  
I smiled and half giggled, half laughed, "Okay, fine."  
"If I find out Jeremy's tried to make a move on you I'm killing him, and don't be afraid to tell him that," he yelled as he started walking away from me, laughing, "I love you."  
"I love you too."  
I watched him walk away, standing in that one spot long after he left. I didn't want to let him go. I didn't understand why I did. Or how I was able to. All of these emotions were trying to escape, but I didn't even begin to try to sort them out. I was being stupid. I didn't need to be reacting with a response as major as it felt. He was going to come back.

He had to come back.


	15. Chapter 15

**I re-read the last two chapters and I feel like they were horrible D: I got over 300 views since I posted those two chapters on tuesday(it's friday now in my time zone xD ). I feel famous, :D **

No one wanted us around, so we agreed to be scouts around the cars if Meredith could ride with Anne. Weaver found that acceptable, since Anne was saying we could all ride with her if we wanted to.

Needless to say, Matt was happy to have her back. I found it cute but Jeremy didn't seem to like it too much. He was such an over protective brother.

"Chill out, he won't hurt her. He hasn't even seemed to care about the spikes," I was running with him and Pip, side by side. We were right inside the tree line on the road.

"I just don't like knowing she's got a crush."  
Pip shook his head, "Dude, you can't do that to her. Not in a time where we don't know if we have a tomorrow. And she might not find many guys now that will ever like her-"  
"Shut it Patrick. I don't care."  
I looked to Jeremy before slapping him in the arm, "Jerk. If you don't chill out we'll strap you to the top of one of the cars."  
I took Pip's hand and ran at one of the cars, jumping over it to the other side of the road.

"Let's just give him space," I shook my head before taking off again. It was fairly easy to keep pace with the vehicles. It was weird to not have to worry about my asthma anymore. I kept telling myself to not think about it because I was afraid I'd make myself think I still had it. It's easier to cure an actual physical disability than one created mentally.  
"How long do you think we're gonna be on the road? I mean, do you really think we're going to follow them and stay with them in Charleston? I doubt they'll like us."  
"I want to, but I don't even wanna think about what they'd do to us. I'd kill one before they touched Mere," I sighed. This was going to be so problematic. I put myself into this though. I personally didn't care about what they'd think of me, but Pip and Meredith were another thing.  
A shiver down my spine brought me out of my thoughts.  
"Was that..?"  
"Yah," Pip ran ahead. I followed him, both surprised and confused.  
"Tec!" I yelled, tapping on the door of his vehicle. He looked to me confused before we heard the car hit something. He jerked it to a stop and climbed out with Weaver.  
"Oh-my-god," I walked around to the front to see if it was true.

Sure enough, there was a girl who was just starting to change laying almost lifelessly on the ground. The connection we had quickly faded as I watched her harness turn off.  
"Did you feel it too..?"  
I looked up to see Jeremy there next to us. Both Pip and I nodded as we looked at the girl.  
What the heck was going on?  
"It's a kid.. A harnessed kid," Weaver voiced our confusion, though we were confused for a different reason.  
"So, what're we gonna do with 'er?" Tector was standing next to me now, "We can't just leave her here."

.

We decided to put her on the med bus with Anne, Matt, and Meredith.  
I was standing at the frame of the bus door, listening in, waiting for her to wake.  
"Where's Tyler? Where's my brother?"  
That was all I needed to hear.

_We were right._

I let out a breath and walked off.

They tried to ask questions, talk to me, but I didn't want to. Thinking of that.. It made me miss them.

And I didn't want to.  
I followed up next to Tector for a while, keeping my mind on the road instead of on them. I wish I could ride with him but Weaver was pretty stern on it just being them together.  
Eventually I fell back. I wanted company, someone to talk to again.  
"You okay?" Pip put a hand on my shoulder. I nodded and tried to take off, but he held me in my place.  
"No, we can catch up easily. I want to make sure you're okay," he turned me to look to him and brushed some hair out of my eyes, "You won't let me in."  
I sighed, looking away, "I don't like letting people in."  
"You were fine before?"  
"I was still like my harnessed self. I'm readjusting pretty easily."  
He made me look at him, "I worry for you."  
"Join the club."  
I pushed passed him and started to run along with the cars. I didn't like the feelings in that conversation. The tension. He didn't know not to butt in. Jimmy knew.  
I was missing him so much more now. I was alone again. I didn't have a lot of time feeling alone, when I was harnessed I felt like I wasn't alone anymore.  
"I'm so sorry Jimmy.."

.

I ran ahead when I sensed it. He was close. His connection was strong.  
Pip and Jeremy joined into it when they got close.  
Our spikes were glowing. I could feel eyes on us when we were running to the med bus.

_Tyler? Tyler is that you?_  
_'Stell? Pip?_

_Is that Tyler?_

Meredith could feel the connection too. So he had to be here.

_I'm here for our sister._

_Sister? So Another was joined? Where's the rest of the family? And our guardian?_

_They were killed off, Estella. The humans blew them up._


	16. Chapter 16

**I'll be posting the rest of the season now! The very last one will come either later tonight or tomorrow, so you might have to wait for that last chapter. Thank you all for reading! And to someone who asked if Estella is my oc, It's estella, Jeremy, Meredith, Patrick/pip, and the people I wrote to be the rest of her family when she was harnessed. Tyler - someone who was in her family - was an actual character I took from the tv show in one of the final episodes for this season. Which will be explained completely here.  
****I hope you like it. ^-^**

I gave Pip a look and he moved in an instant, grabbing Tyler by his shoulders and tossing him into the woods as gently as he could.  
"Tyler!" Jeremy hissed, "They'll kill you. Especially since you've changed so much."  
"I'm here for our sister. I'll leave once I have her."  
"Well, you can't just run up to a moving bus and jump on it, looking half skitter and all," I mumbled. I was still taking in his changes. Was I going to really change that much if I had stayed harnessed? Was I still turning into that? Like Rick had threatened that Ben was doing?  
"I figured since they're letting you with them, it was okay. I'm not here to harm anyone. I just want our sister."  
"You need a better plan. We'll help you get her, but you can't be close to the bus once you get her. Okay? We can't risk you two getting hurt."  
We heard the 2nd Mass looking for him so we walked a little further into the woods.  
"Give them some time to calm down, and we'll make sure you don't get hurt. Or her. Okay?"  
I sighed and put a hand on his arm, smiling a little, "I can't see you get hurt."  
He put his hand on my arm in return, "Thank you. All of you."  
Pip laughed, "You're our brother. We're going to help you."  
"Will you come with us..?"  
I looked to Jeremy and Pip, my expression falling.  
"Uhm, we're going to stay here. For her. She's here to wait for Ben," Pip had stepped forward to grab my hand. He knew it was hurting me.  
"You're still waiting for him? Why not come with us. We'll get you re-harnessed. Find you a new guardian with us."  
I shook my head, "I'm staying here. They're free to go if they'd like."  
Pip squeezed my hand, "I'm staying with her. She needs me. She needs us."  
I saw him look to Jeremy out of the corner of my eyes, but my gaze was to the ground.  
Jeremy sighed, "I'm staying too. Meredith is safer here. For now anyways. We'll find you soon if we can. Okay?"  
Tyler nodded, "Okay. So, what's the plan?"

.

We had caught back up with the convoy. We made sure no one was around when Tyler jumped on the bus again. We heard her.. Felt her when her harness was activated.  
"C'mon," I yelled as I took her hand to lead her away with Tyler, "Make sure no one sees us."  
When we made it safely into the forest, we stopped. I hugged Tyler goodbye and wished them luck on their journey.  
"Make sure Matt's okay for me, please?" The girl looked worried.  
"I will. He's a tough little kid. He'll be fine," I gave her a smile before nodding to Tyler. I watched them take off before heading back to the convoy.  
"Did you catch 'em Estella?" Click asked me as he watched me come from the forest.  
I shook my head, "No, they were stronger than I was. They've been harnessed longer," I acted like I was starting to get out of breath, "Sorry Click. I tried."  
"We know you did 'Stella," Mr. Mason sighed and patted my head before walking off to find Weaver.  
After a few more minutes of calming down, the 2nd Mass took off again. We could smell the salt water in the air.  
Not too long after we started moving, maybe 4 hours, the sun greeted us. It was warmer now, and the sun made it all the better. I'd never liked the cold.  
"We're almost there!" Meredith yelled excitedly. She wanted to have a home again. Which was understandable. But I didn't like the sound of Charleston. I knew Jeremy and Pip did either, but we had to pretend. For Meredith.  
When we stopped, Meredith took off to the front. Jeremy was right behind her, Pip and I behind him.  
_Why're we stopping?_  
Pip looked to me and shrugged his shoulders.  
_Beats me. Figured we'd hear people when we arrived._  
We were amazed when we saw why we had stopped. Tector and Weaver almost drove off the edge of the bridge leading into Charleston. It was blown up, along with the rest of the city.  
"Oh my god.." I whispered what everyone was thinking, "We came all this way.. For nothing.."

.

We pulled back onto a side road. The 2nd Mass was so upset. I was even a little upset. It'd been a long time since I've stayed in one place, settled down with everyone. We were gathering around the truck, waiting for Weaver to talk. We needed him more than ever right now.  
When we heard the gun shot, we moved closer.  
"So Charleston was a bust.. We thought we were gonna have paradise on earth to live at handed to us on a silver platter. We should've known better, I should've known better. It doesn't mean that the dream was bad. It just means that we are gonna have to work harder to make it happen. The choice is simple, you can lie down and quit, curse God at the unfairness of it all! Or, you can come with me! Find another place to live. A place were we can build the community that we'd hoped to find here, "People started to cheer at his determination, his speech was working, "So here's what we're gonna do! We're gonna get back into those vehicles, and we're gonna go on! Even if it means we've gotta carry them on our backs!"  
He was a man with words, that's for sure. I was with him though. I was going to be with the 2nd Mass 'til the end.  
When Mr. Mason and Weaver were walking away, we heard footsteps in the woods.  
"Who goes there?" Chi readied his gun, walking closer.  
Mr. Mason, Weaver and the others pulled their guns out as well.  
"Identify yourself!"  
"Hold your fire," the voice was familiar, "Colonel Porter, of the continental army. Hello Dan."  
Porter gave a smile. It was good to see him again, but I didn't bother to listen.  
"Who's that guy?" Jeremy asked as he, his sister, and Pip walked up to me.  
"He's the guy who ran the masses before we split up. He's a good guy. I promise."  
We turned when we heard Porter tell Tom that he was starting to be a Legend. Then when he told us that Charleston was here, I smiled.  
"Yay!" Meredith chirped as I picked her up. I heard Matt yell Hal and looked over to see him walking close with Maggie.  
"Looks like the gang's back," I laughed as I walked up to Maggie to hug her. Meredith went off to hold her brother's hand.  
"Ah, but it's not good."  
"Troubles with Hal?"  
"Something like that.. Hey'ya Pip. Keeping good care of my girl?" Maggie put her arm around me to give me a side hug, giving a half smile.  
"You know it Maggie. You aren't the only one taking care of her now."  
"Trust me boy, I'm taking care of her pretty well too. A girl's gotta talk girl talk every once in a while. You can't do that."  
It was my turn to laugh, "Oh, don't worry Pip, you've helped too."  
Pip huffed, but I could tell he was trying not to chuckle himself. It was good to see Maggie liking Pip. He wasn't Jimmy.. But he was still a brother now. I had a little family of my own again.  
"So, let's go to Charleston, you're gonna be amazed when you see this," Maggie led us away with the others.  
"Why so?"  
"It's got running water, electricity, and actual food."  
I looked at her in a bit of awe, "Oh my god, it'll be great to have something not canned again."  
I sighed at just the thought. Part of me thought that maybe this wouldn't be so bad.  
But my gut told me otherwise. And my gut seemed to always be right.


	17. Chapter 17

Charleston was apparently created in the remains of a mall that was never finished, beneath the ground.  
Everyone was staring at the 2nd mass as we walked down. Before long, they were clapping.  
We were a legend. Not just Tom, but all of us.  
Weaver found his daughter again. Jene had made her way here too. Once they had said their hellos, I walked over to her.  
"Nice to see you again," I nodded and gave her a smile, "I'm glad to see you're safe."  
"Likewise," she smiled back. I was glad we had found a common ground. It was good to be okay with her.  
By lunch, Pip, Meredith, Jeremy and I were rounded up and sent to an office with the leader of the army sitting behind a desk.  
"Eh, why're we here?"  
He stood and nodded for the people behind us to close the door.  
"I have been informed that you four were once harnessed."  
"Yeah, and?" My tone was defensive, as it should be. I was afraid of this.  
"Can you still be in contact with the aliens? Wait, don't answer that. Even if you were, you wouldn't tell."  
"Yeah we would. So we could see how many of your army men would try to stop them before finding out you were outnumbered," Pip stood in front of me.  
"Pip, shut up," I pulled him back.  
"Once our harness is off, there's no way to be connected to the aliens unless they're close by. Even so, we've learned to control our own minds by now. We can keep from harming anyone," I sighed, "You're really going to do this to us? We've yet to cause any harm to the 2nd mass. Why would we start now? They've been a bigger thorn in the alien's spine than you all have, from what we know."  
The man seemed to take offense to what I'd said, but I wasn't wrong. I knew I wasn't.  
"Well, I guess we can't really lock you up if there's no solid evidence to. But we're watching you. And you'll be tested."  
I shook my head, "Not all of us. You aren't going to run tests on a little girl. She can be watched - by girl soldiers only might I add - but not tested on. Unless you want Jeremy and I to start a bit of trouble," I almost growled when I spoke. No one would be touching her.  
He narrowed his eyes. I could tell we were going to have problems. There were more guns around here, more different types that could harm me easier. It wasn't as easy as it was with the 2nd mass to disobey orders.  
"Fine, you're dismissed. All but you," he nodded to me. I smiled to the others to tell them to leave before turning around to face the man.  
"Listen here, little girl, you are not in charge. I don't care for your reputation to help out and get things done where you came from, you're not in control here. Got it? You won't question my authority again, or go against my word, or we'll have problems."  
I smirked to him, "Better get prepared for problems then. I do what I want to defend my people. You better keep that in mind. You wouldn't want a girl to cause a bit of trouble, would you? Not one as strong as me, anyways," I left him with a smile to taunt him.  
This was going to be fun.

.

"What'd the scumbag want?" Pip was pacing back and forth outside the door, waiting for me.  
"I'm sure you listened in enough to know," I laughed before walking over to where Jeremy was, trying to calm Meredith down.  
"What's wrong Mere?" I knelt in front of her and smiled, "Why're you so upset?"  
"They don't want us here!" She cried, "They don't like us!"  
"No, no no, that's just a mean old man. Once people see how amazingly sweet you are, they'll love you. I'm sure of it," I brushed the hair out of her face.  
She looked up to me with her puppy dog eyes, sniffling, "Pinky promise?"  
I wrapped my pinky finger around hers, "Pinky promise. Now, let's get you to class. I bet Matt will be happy to have you back. You've not had much time to talk since we've been with the 2nd mass again."  
"Do you think so? I mean.. not that it matters or anything," she held my hand as I led her to the rooms I was told classes were held.  
"I bet so," I gave her another smile. It was cute that she had a little schoolgirl crush on him. They'd seem to have gotten so close before she left.  
"You'll keep me safe, right? My brother and I?"  
I looked down to her, her gaze was on the floor, "Yes, of course I will. Why would you ask such a thing?"  
"Because.. The 2nd mass was your home before we were. I figured you'd defend the 2nd mass before you'd defend us. We're harnessed kids after all. I know what they say about us when they think we can't hear them.."  
I kissed her on the head once we stopped at the door, "Sweety. You're important to me. I'd defend you. And the 2nd mass would. They're your family. Okay?"  
She looked up at me again, "Okay."  
"Now, go have fun," I walked her into the room and went towards the teacher as she found Matt.  
"Hello, I guess you can say I'm one of Meredith's guardians. In a sense. I just figured I'd let you know she's joining you."  
"Ah, yes, the harnessed one. I heard about her joining us."  
The woman was probably middle aged. She didn't seem bothered by the fact that Meredith was joining, but referring to her as 'the harnessed one' wasn't very convincing.  
"She's not harnessed anymore," I corrected her, "Anyways, her name is Meredith Stones, she's 14. Her blood brother - and only remaining blood family member - is Jeremy. He's 18 now. He's around here somewhere with another one of us 'harnessed kids' named Patrick. All three of us are kind of her guardians now, after what we've gone through since we've been de-harnessed. So talk to any of us if she has any trouble."  
The woman seemed apologetic, "Oh, I'm sorry, I didn't mean any offense to you kids by saying harnessed one. I was merely connecting the name to the conversation. I'm not like the majority, who are confused on their feelings for harnessed kids. I promise you it won't affect how I see her."  
I gave her a smile, "Thank you. She's just a little kid. She doesn't deserve that kind of treatment."  
"Well, I'll take good care of her. I see she already has a friend too."  
I laughed as I saw Meredith with Matt, "Yes, they seem to be a bit glued to each other. Well, if we're good here, I'll go. You've got a class to teach. I'll see you when I come to pick her up."  
We said our goodbyes and I walked out, trying to think of what to do.  
"I guess first thing's first, I should find where I live. This place is huge."

.

When I heard the commotion I had to find out what was wrong. My curiosity always got the better of me.  
"Weaver! They're trying to take our guns from us and split us up!"  
I looked to Weaver to see how he'd respond. But when they commanded him to roll over, he did so. He agreed with the army men and told the 2nd mass to calm down. It surprised me. I didn't like this new Weaver already.  
By dinner, I was sitting with Jeremy, Pip, Meredith, Anne, Lourdes, and Mr. Mason eating.  
"Does anyone else find it strange here?" I asked with my mouth half full of food. I hadn't had a decent meal in a long time.  
"You're not alone. I don't like it either. I mean, making a field doctor wipe runny noses? That's just not.. Right," Anne sighed.  
Tom shrugged, "Maybe we've just seen combat for so long that we don't know anything else. It does seem a bit too cozy though."  
"Dad! They locked up Maggie and the berserkers. Apparently they were taking guns and Maggie was stopping them. But no one will believe her," Hal didn't waste time eating, he seemed determined to try to get Maggie out.  
"We can't do anything about that son, not yet anyways. I'll see what I can do. But it'll have to wait 'til later. I've got to talk at tonight's public speaking."  
I sighed. Maggie was already locked up. I already had a target on my head. Meredith was in trouble. Stupid new place. An underground hide out with an army that doesn't patrol. Of course this place would suck.

.

I sat with everyone who followed from dinner, which was everyone besides Tom. Matt was with us now though, and Hal. After Jene spoke, and told us of how she wants to find her friends and boyfriend, Mr. Mason got up to speak. He spoke against what they were doing here. I was glad. He didn't like what was going on here, how they were cowering away, and that we needed to fight. He sure made a lot of the people agree.  
When he was pulled offstage to talk with the man from the office before, I listened in.  
They had found a de-harnessed boy who needed to speak to Mr. Mason.  
"Ben?" I ran after them and walking around the door while they spoke to the de-harnessed kid. There was a development with the Overlords, and red-eye had asked to speak to Tom. Everyone disagreed but Weaver. They didn't like anything about the rebellion. Didn't like Ben. They decided to lock up the de-harnessed kid and to bunker down.  
"Seriously?" I growled as I walked with them while they led the de-harnessed kid away, "Is red-eye okay? Has he been close?"  
The de-harnessed kid looked to me, "He's okay. You know him?"  
"I saved him a while ago when he was shot. Kept him alive when we waited for help."  
"I know of you. You're Estella. We owe you much for keeping him safe."  
I sighed in relief, smiling, "I'm just glad he's okay. And you. Are there many of you now?"  
He nodded, "You will join us, yes?"  
They led him away, down to the jail.  
"Maybe, " I whispered, knowing he would hear me.


	18. Chapter 18

We were forced to the cafeteria. All of the 2nd mass was ordered to stay there. Apparently they thought we were dangerous.  
"It's okay Matt, it's fine," I gave him a smile. Jeremy was calming Meredith down.  
It was understandable. This was horrible. They were threatening us. It was a bit scary.  
Anne and Lourdes sat with us, comforting us as we tried not to panic.  
"This was what I was afraid of," I whispered to Anne, "I didn't think we'd be okay."  
Anne sighed, "It crossed my mind more than once."

.

I felt him before the alarms went. We weren't told we could leave yet, but I didn't care. I was able to pass the army men easily as I ran towards the entrance. Jeremy and Pip were running after me. We connected as they tried to figure out what was going on.  
The alarms blared then, talking of trespassing. The 2nd mass, as well as the army, came after us then.  
I reached the group of skitters walking in then, running towards the middle of the group.  
"Ben!" I yelled as I ran at him, going into his arms.  
I heard Tom say not to shoot, and I was certain army men were aiming their guns at us. I didn't care though. I had Ben again.  
"Told you I'd be back," He whispered into my ear before pulling apart and placing a kiss on my forehead.  
Matt and Mr. Mason ran at Ben to hug him then. No one was lowering their weapons though.  
We moved in front of the skitters and Ben to defend him. Anne, Lourdes, Weaver, and the rest of the 2nd mass followed them, locking arms to make a circle around the skitters.  
"Stand down," the leader of the army grumbled. I knew he didn't like it. But I didn't care. I had Ben's hand in my grasp and I could connect to the skitters, hear them. It was beginning to feel okay again.

.

I paced back and forth as I waited for red-eye and Ben to get out. I didn't like them in with that man, he was no good.  
Pip, Jeremy, and Meredith were with me. Pip was continuously trying to calm me down as Jeremy was almost sulking again. We'd made sure not to connect any when we were here, but right now we were connected to every skitter but red-eye, and couldn't connect to Ben.  
"Jeremy, seriously, you're going to screw with Meredith's emotions," Pip whined.  
"Shut it Patrick, I'm trying."  
I shot Jeremy a glare before groaning, "What's taking them so long?"  
Just then, Mr. Mason was saying goodbye to Ben as he rubbed his neck.  
I ran to catch up to him to stop both him and red-eye.  
_It's nice to be able to finally talk to you, sir._  
_Likewise Estella Bolard. You don't need to call me sir though. Everyone seems to refer to me as Red-eye, so that's suitable._  
_I smiled. Okay then. Have you healed okay?_  
_Yes, thank you. Others have helped with that, but you saved my life. I owe you many thanks._  
_Oh, it's no problem. I try to do everything I can to help. I guess you've found that out though._  
_Yes. But apparently you and Ben would like to say goodbye, so I must go. I'd rather not bother you two._  
_Well, thank you. Goodbye. Until next time anyways._  
_Goodbye Estella._  
I smiled as he walked away.  
"Well, that was kind of awkward in the end," I let out a bit of a laugh, but he was being quiet, "You aren't staying yet are you."  
"No, not yet," he let out a sigh before Pip walked over.  
"Not to ruin this, but I'd like to say hi, and that if you hurt her I'm throwing you into another wall."  
I shook my head, "Pip!" I whined.  
Ben laughed, "As long as you promise to keep Jeremy from her, I'd accept that."  
Pip nodded, "Agreed. I'm Patrick by the way. Though 'Stell calls me Pip."  
"Nice to formally meet you. I'm Ben, as I bet you know. I bet you've learned a lot about me from the connection actually."  
"Oh you have no idea-"  
"Okay! Bye Pip!" I shoved him away. He laughed as he waved goodbye, leaving us alone again.  
"So, we don't have much time now, but I just wanted to say goodbye. For now anyways. Can I come to visit or something?-"  
He stopped my rambling by taking my face in his hands and kissing me.  
_You talk a lot when you're nervous._  
I couldn't help but giggle. He had disconnected everyone else from us, leaving us to our own thoughts for a moment. Our connection melted me away from the world again.  
_You like to do adorable things to make me shut up though. So it's okay_.  
I grinned against his lips, kissing him once more before he had to go. He kept us connected as long as he could before the distance became too much.  
_You'll still come back, right?_  
_I promise Estella, I'll be back for you._  
_Please make it soon, this place is boring._  
_Well here, I'll give you an adventure. If you find our camp, you can see me again tonight. _  
_I'll take that challenge. See you tonight._  
_See you tonight, Estella. I love you._  
_I love you too._  
I smiled, sliding down the wall in my room and giggling. He always brought out the giggly girl side of me.  
Pip interrupted my day dreaming by knocking on my door.  
"Oh god, you're still all lovey - dovey," He sighed as he connected to me, "At least you're happy though."  
He slid down next to me and pulled me into a hug, "Don't leave for good. Not without me, got it?"  
I laughed and shook my head, "I could never leave you silly." I put my head on his shoulder and snuggled into his arms, "You're warm."  
"Yeah, body heat tends to do that."  
I shoved him a little, "Shut up. You're supposed to be nice to me."  
"I am being nice to you! I'm allowed to tease you shorty."  
He let me go and messed up my hair a little bit.  
"Gir! No fair!" I half yelled in my childish voice, trying to fix my hair, "No touching the hair."  
I screwed his up as pay back, causing him to freak out a little to fix it, "Okay, I guess those terms are understandable."  
I laughed as I helped him fix his part, "Yeah, I know they are."  
I smiled to him before understanding how close I was to him. I didn't think of it in a relationship way, and I hoped he didn't either, but for some reason I kept worrying about it. I guess it was because I didn't want his relationship with me to be ruined by the feelings that Jeremy's trying to figure out.  
"Well, I guess I should be off to bed," He yawned and awkwardly stood, stretching, "Wouldn't wanna tick off any of those soldiers, would I now? Can't get kicked out of here so soon."  
I shook my head, "You better not," I kissed his cheek before shoving him out of my room, "Now, go. They'd kill us if they found out you were in my room. Even if it wasn't in any creepy way they thought."  
"Ew, I've got my eyes on someone else, sorry. You're my big sister anyways. Well, metaphorically speaking," he laughed as we walked off, whispering a 'good night' to me.  
There wasn't anything there. I loved Ben. So why was there this feeling drawing me to him? It wasn't a feeling like any I've had with Ben. I couldn't place what it was. But it was causing me head aches pondering on it.  
Like I'd known him before. But how?


	19. Chapter 19

I found the camp easily. It seemed Hal had already come to visit, since his boot prints helped lead me in the right direction. They were camping under a bridge, the de-harnessed kids always on patrol.  
When I was close enough, I let myself become connected to whoever was searching, and connected easily with one of the skitters and a few of the de-harnessed kids.  
_I'm here to see Ben. I bring no trouble._  
I stepped forward to see them waiting for me. One of my hands was raised, the other putting the gun I had on the ground.  
_It's okay, Estella Bolard. We know of you. You are one to trust._  
I looked to the skitter in front of me. They were the one talking. The kids were just watching.  
_So, may I talk to Ben? If only for a short moment._  
_Yes, we'll get him. Go, Henry, find Ben for us._  
I nodded a thanks before getting my pistol off the ground and disconnecting. It was awkward, waiting there for him to come, the kids staying close by and the skitter walking in circles around his people. I couldn't seem to get my eyes off of them, hanging from the bridge upside down.  
_Curious of it?_  
I looked to the skitter. It's eyes were on me again.  
Y_es, I've not seen a skitter - erm, an alien sleep hanging. Only with it's family, on the ground_.  
The skitter nodded. _We don't always sleep like that. We're not guardians anymore._  
I looked to the ground. _Do you miss having a family of kids_?  
_Sometimes, I guess I do. Many of us probably do at times. We grew close to them. Some of our families are also here, with us though. _  
_Some of these kids were part of your family?_  
_Not mine in general, but someone's here, yes._  
_I bet that must be good.. I wish I could have my guardian with me a lot of the time honestly. Some of my family was brought with me to my home though. So it helps a little._  
The skitter nodded to me again before stepping away, Ben walking up to us.  
My connection with the skitter was replaced with Ben.  
"How can you keep everyone else from connecting with us?"  
He gave me his cute crooked smile as he took me in his arms, "Because I've practiced?"  
I shook my head, but my smile stayed none the less. I couldn't take my gaze away him his.  
"You knew I'd find it here. But I will admit Hal's boot prints made it easier than it would have already been."  
He chuckled, "So you cheated your way here?"  
"No! Well, kind of I guess. But it was to see you. Doesn't that mean something?"  
His forehead touched mine then, our eyes closing.  
_It means everything._  
I loved these moments. When we just stood here, in each other's arms, taking in everything. It was like in the movies, but more… amazing. Granted, our connection made us feel closer. But I was certain it would still be great even without the connection.  
Of course, moments like these have to end. And soon enough I was giving him a quick kiss goodbye and letting go of his hand.  
_You'll be coming with us on the mission, right?_  
_Yes. And don't tell me I can't._  
_I won't. But I'll be overly protective._  
_Just don't let that get in the way of the mission._  
_Oh 'Stella, you and your obsession over missions. Since when have you done one right?_  
_Shuddup, I'm not the key part to get the mission done with everyone safe. It's different._  
I felt him smile as our connection became weaker._ Just make sure you can blow up one of the c4. Since I know you'll try to anyways._  
_Ah yes, explosives for a pyromaniac. Sounds fun-_  
Soldiers cut off my thoughts as they ran at me. Oh, this wasn't going to be good.  
"You're that trouble maker! Now we've got a reason to lock you up."  
"Why're you out here?! Unless.. You backstabber! I can't believe you'd do that to your people, destroy their hope."  
The man gave me a smirk while putting handcuffs on me, "Those skitters and kids deserve to die."  
I looked at him, worried. He was actually going to kill the kids too?  
_Estella, can you hear me?_  
_Ben! They're after you. You need to run._  
_After us? Who is?_  
"Hey, her spikes are glowing sir. What should we do?" The soldier holding me in place seemed extremely confused.  
"Knock her out."  
_They're going to kill you. You need to-_  
A blow to the back of my skull made everything blurry before I felt myself falling, my mind going blank.  
Just what I needed, more injuries to the head.

.

I awoke in Ben's arms in the bed of a truck.  
"Hey sunshine. Have a good sleep? We need you here now, get your lazy self up."  
"Hi to you too Maggie," I grumbled. I watched Maggie move back into the truck. I didn't know who else was here, but I didn't care at this moment.  
"Did you get attacked?"  
"Yah, we did," Ben's voice was full of pain, "Some of us got away. Red-eye made it out too."  
"How're you?"  
He was playing with my hair now. It had gotten a lot longer since he'd seen me a couple weeks ago.  
"Okay."  
I sat up then, turning to look at his face. He had a healing wound on the side of it, some bruising around the area.  
"Oh.. Ben. I'm sorry I couldn't warn you sooner.."  
My hand traced the bruise lightly as I started to get angry at myself for not doing more to help.  
"It's not your fault 'Stella, you warned us. But I must ask.. Who was it that took you in? Last we heard you were locked up. I had to beg to get you to come with us to 'get proper help', since Anne was our specialist after all."  
"The man.. The guy who sits in the office. I don't know his name."  
"The man who Red-eye talked to? Of course it was him.. How could I have been so stupid as to let him help us with trying to figure out who attacked. He knew all along where we were. I can't believe this."  
I put my hand over his mouth to shut him up, "Chill. There's nothing we can do about it now. Where's Jeremy and Pip?"  
"They didn't come. I couldn't even find Pip, and Jeremy was running off somewhere and wouldn't listen to me. So it's just us."  
I sat down next to him then, leaning my back against the inside of the bed of the truck. I didn't expect to see a big alien laser pointed at the sky when I looked up, but sure enough I wasn't hallucinating.  
"What the.."  
"That's what you get to help blow up."  
A smile played on his lips. I guess he liked that it amazed me so much. I didn't understand why, and I probably never would.  
"What's it for?"  
"Not for us, if that's what you're asking."  
"For.. More aliens?"  
I turned to look at him then. His expression had changed.  
"Let's not talk about that just yet."


	20. Chapter 20

"This looks right," Ben walked in circles in the room we were in. They were setting up some explosives to make a hole in the wall for us to get through when Ben put his hand on the wall.  
He took it away as quickly as he put it there, "He's here, I can feel it."  
I was panicking. The grip on my shot gun was sweaty from my hands.  
The explosives went off and we filed into the room. The first thing I did was look up. There were things hanging off the bottom of the laser, and it looked so much bigger from right below it.  
"Tom, take Ben, Hal, Maggie, Anne, Dai, and 'Stella to the left. Rest of you with me to the right. Start laying down the charges and meet back here."  
We did as told and filed off to the left. I couldn't do anything to help, but look.  
"It's pointed up to the sky," Tom questioned.  
"I know.." Ben didn't want to talk about it.  
"Why? They already wiped out the air force."  
"It wasn't meant for humans.."  
Ben felt it too, I could see it in his face.  
We both yelled 'skitters' at once before people started opening fire.  
Dai was being held in the air by one, shooting at it to try to get down. But his death was brutal and quick. With a swing of the skitter's arm, Dai was thrown into the concrete wall, falling a good 5 or 6 feet to the ground, lifeless.  
"Dai!" I yelled before getting caught with Maggie and Hal. Ben and Anne were taken trying to help us, leaving Mr. Mason alone.  
"Professor Mason?" The voice came from behind us.  
"Karen," Mr. Mason nodded.  
"What an unpleasant surprise."  
With those words haunting my subconscious, I blacked out again.

.

I awoke to be hanging from the things that were dangling from the laser by my wrists. I saw that everyone was around me, also hanging my their wrists.  
"Ben?" I panicked. He was the only one I didn't see. Did I lose him again?  
"Right here, Estella. I'm right here," his voice came from my right and I turned to see his face. He was worried. Extremely worried.  
I was too. We knew what they could do. We knew the ways they could hurt all of us. Or turn all of us into toys. We knew more than the people hanging around us did, and we worried so much more than they did because of it.  
People started questioning to see if the other was okay as they rest of them woke.  
"I think it's safe to say Dr. Glass will never be okay again, Tom," Karen showed up from no where, as usual, with her disgusting smirk.  
"Don't listen to her dad!" Ben yelled before the things dangling around us wrapped around his mouth.  
"Ben!" My scream was by impulse. But being as scared I was, I knew everything I did would be on impulse now.  
"That would be enough, Ben," Karen's voice was stern, "My master's tried to be so patient with you, Tom. But he finds you a constant nuisance."  
"Glad to be of service," his voice was mocking her. He didn't know what he was getting us into, "Musta scared them, huh? He's afraid to show his ugly face?"  
"On the contrary, he's right here."  
I watched as the overlord pushed some of the dangling things away to show himself before going back behind them, pacing.  
"And he's quite curious as to how you found this facility and knew he'd be here."  
"I bet he is."  
"You'll tell us," Karen smiled again, "Everything."  
"You might as well just get it over with and kill me, cause I'm not telling you anything."  
"You're going to die, Tom. As will all of you. I'm afraid my master will insist on it," A skitter came up behind her with a glowing stick. That didn't look fun, "But first, I'm sure you remember this."  
I watched as Tom squirmed. I knew what that was. The general idea. But I'd never known that Mr. Mason had it used on him.  
"The pain it can inflict?" Karen shocked him with the device. His screams were pain inflicting on the rest of us. Hal was yelling.  
When Karen stopped, I watched her walk over to Hal.  
"I've been wanting to do this for quite some time now," he was lowered a little before Karen's hand found the side of his face, leaning in to kiss him rather forcefully. Whatever she did, it made him pass out.  
Maggie was screaming at Karen this time, but Karen had the dangling things wrap around her mouth too.  
"Tell us everything you know," Karen's voice became louder.  
Tom told her a few profanities instead of giving her an actual reply though. We were in for a treat.  
"We'll save Dr. Glass for last I think, for old times sake," Karen turned around and shocked Weaver.  
"That the best you got?" He made a noise of pain again as the device shocked him.  
I watched as the Overlord came closer, watching us more now.  
I heard Tom and Karen talking, but I didn't pay any attention. I was trying not to say anything. I knew that I was next, since she was saving Dr. Glass for last.  
"Ah, now to you. You've become such a bother. And taking dear Ben away again," She came closer to me as I felt my blood pumping from every inch of my body. I've been hurt before, but this was terrifying anyways.  
I heard Ben try to yell from where he was, but he couldn't do anything.  
"You've made some of us extremely annoyed, dear Estella," the things holding me up dropped me down a little. I was afraid I'd pass out, like Hal. I didn't want her to do anything to me. Shock me, yes, I knew I'd get that. But nothing else.  
Her hand found my cheek, tracing a scar on the side of it, "You've gotten hurt so much haven't you? There's still traces of burns on your arms, your legs.. Your pretty face even. How has that happened?" She sounded sincere, it sickened me.  
"I was saving my home," I growled. I tried to sound as strong as I could. It surprisingly wasn't all that hard.  
"You try to always do what you can to.. Save people. So how about you talk? Make it easier on Dr. Glass," she was rubbing my cheek with her thumb now. I tried to turn away from her touch but it was no use.  
"Awh, you don't want me touching you? Why? I've done nothing bad," She was mocking me now, "Nothing like you, anyways."  
"You took Ben from me. And my family. My brother," my tone rose, "You've done everything bad. I even watched you break Hal's heart, and toy with Ben's. You deserve to die."  
My foot found her stomach and I kicked - hard. She made a hiss of pain before her face turned angry.  
"You little pest," Her voice sounded a lot more angry than mine did, "You're pushing it."  
The device touched my chest and I screamed. It was a lot worse than I thought it'd be.  
When she pulled away, her smirk was back on her face, "You deserved that."  
"I deserve a lot of things. Go wait in line," I was breathing heavily and looking up through the hair that had fallen in front of my face.  
The device found my chest again and it stayed there longer this time.  
When she took it away, I whimpered. I hadn't dealt with my asthma since I was harnessed, but she somehow was bringing it back by shocking me around my lungs. My breathing was rapid and shallow. I felt my lungs trying to collapse on me, my air passage starting to close. The edges of my vision became blurry, but I watched her come close again, this time walking around to my back and tracing the tips of my spikes.  
"Get off of me.." I couldn't find the strength to talk.  
I heard her laugh before she shocked in between two of my spikes, the device touching them.  
I felt it all the way down my spine, into my other spikes. It vibrated in me. I didn't know how she did it, but she was shocking me from the inside out, she was literally sending them through my bones instead of my nervous system.  
And it felt like it was inching it's way to my spinal cord. It felt like injuring me wasn't enough for her, like she was going to sit and here and do this until it killed me.


	21. Chapter 21

**Well, of course she couldn't _die,_ or there'd be no more story. But, let's see how many of you catch on to what's going on. ;D One or two more chapters, then no more super nova. Get ready for the end of this one. x: **

I don't remember much of what happened, why she stopped doing it, how she found out Anne was pregnant. I don't know if Tom actually said anything when she threatened to still hurt Anne.  
The first thing I was able to consciously process was me falling from the dangling things.  
"Estella!" Ben was at me in a second, helping me up. I could still feel the tingling in my bones, on my neck, in my spikes. My breathing was still hard to control, but that was slowly calming down. I felt like I couldn't walk though. And Ben putting pressure on my arm helping me up made me hurt. I didn't understand anything right now, but I didn't have time to.  
The rebellion was here, attacking everyone. They were killing other skitters, trying to hurt Karen. I watched as Red-eye attacked the Overlord. And watched as he cut red-eye, hurting him beyond repair.  
I was at Red-eye in a second, but Tom was at the Overlord, smacking him with the device. He used it as a blunt weapon, he didn't turn it on. But even without it turned on, he was able to bash the Overlord's head in.  
_I connected to Red-eye, crying._  
_I'm so sorry I couldn't save you again._  
_No, Estella, it's okay. You've done much. Continue to do much. You've made yourself important now._  
_But I just wanted to keep you safe. That's all that's mattered. _  
_You and I both know you've done this to keep your people safe as well, to keep Ben safe. But thank you, for trying your hardest for me._  
When everyone was dead, the others came over to Red-eye. Ben as holding him now as I tried not to panic from being covered in blood.  
Karen had gotten away again, but it didn't matter.  
Ben connected to Red-eye then, talking to him. I didn't know what he said, but Ben looked to Mr. Mason and I.  
Red-eye grabbed Mr. Mason's hand and looked to him.  
"Keep the fight going," it was a whisper from Ben, but we knew who it was from.  
I couldn't stop crying. From what happened tonight. From the pain I was having. From Dai and Red-eye dying.  
It was just so much to take in at once.  
Some people carried Hal, as others carried Dai's dead body. Ben was carrying me on his back. I didn't usually like being carried, but since my body was going numb from pain now and I couldn't walk, I gladly accepted the offer.  
When we reached the truck, I was leaning against the back of it eagerly.  
"Go ahead," I heard Weaver yell, and I was more than happy to press the little button in my hand and watch the building blow up and collapse on itself.  
"Oh the beauty," I whispered. It was hard for me to talk above a whisper now. Everything seemed so difficult.  
I felt Ben pull me back as the truck took off, as to make sure I didn't tumble over the side and fall out.  
I was in his arms then, laying there, trying to sleep. I felt afraid to for some reason, but I let it take me anyways.

.

By the time I woke, we were getting off the truck and out of vehicles.  
"Wait, what's going on?" I rubbed my head. It hurt for some reason.  
"We're going back into Charleston. C'mon, I'll help you out," Ben led me off the truck and started to follow the others down a few ramps.  
"Charleston?"  
"Yah, we're back at the mall. Are you okay?" Ben stopped me to try and check to see if I got hurt.  
"Oh, I'm fine. Just still half asleep is all. C'mon, we're being left behind," I took his hand and started walking forwards again but tripped over myself, "Crap. It's okay, really. You know how clumsy I am."  
Ben seemed unconvinced, but walked none the less. People were clapping for us, cheering as we went in. But none of us thought it happy days. We lost the leader of the rebellion and Dai. It was a bad day indeed.  
As we started to walk with the crowd again, I noticed Pip and Jeremy were in the group of people coming back. They were messy and bloodied up.  
"Did Jeremy and Pip end up coming along to fight?"  
"Yeah, don't you remember? They helped us carry Hal back."  
"No, I was still in a lot of shock, as ironic as that word is."  
"Okay, well I have to go talk to some people, get checked out while I'm gone, okay?" He kissed my hand and started off towards his dad.  
I kept my eyes on Pip though. He had found his way to the rebellion and followed them to the building we were in. Why couldn't I place how I knew him?  
"Hey Pip! Can we talk?" I had caught up to him pretty quickly, as he was going as slow as the rest of the crowd.  
"Uh, sure. You okay there 'Stell? You don't look so good."  
I grabbed his arm to use as support as I smiled to Meredith, "I came back in one piece," I laughed.  
"You have to tell me all about it!" Her smile was something that could instantly cheer anyone up.  
"I will, but later, okay?" I nodded goodbye to Jeremy and had Pip lead me off somewhere.  
We ended up back outside of the mall, around the abandoned city.  
"What happened to you? You're not at all okay.." He had my face in his hands and was checking me over to any hits on the head.  
"She got my chest and spine, not my head," I was feeling light headed again, and a bit dizzy. That stupid device could really give a beating. But my size probably didn't help either. It was meant for people like Tom and Weaver, not little girls like me.  
"I'll be fine though," I had regained control of my balance and sighed, running my hands through my horribly messy hair.  
"So, what'd you wanna talk about?" He had his hands stuffed in his pockets. He seemed nervous. No, scared. Was scared the right word?  
"There's been this thing eating at me.. I can't seem to figure it out."  
"Well, I'm here to talk," he gave a half smile that showed his worry more than anything.  
"I know you from somewhere. I can't figure out where, but it's bugging me. It's got something important to do with me. Or the rebellion. Or something. I just-"  
Then, it hit me. For some reason, all of it came flooding back. Seeing him in school, him pulling a knife on my brother that one day, me punching him when he wouldn't back off. Then his apology, and disappearing from our town. From everywhere.  
I'd seen him again with the rebellion the day I had followed Ben. He ran from me.  
Wait, if he was with the rebellion, why was he harnessed with me?  
"I've changed, I swear. So much has happened. I was better before the aliens came. I'd smoothed things over with Jimmy too. We kept in touch, I dunno if he told you that. Please, I don't need to get hit again by you. Especially now that you're stronger," he became defensive. But more hurt, than anything.  
"Why were you harnessed with me."  
"Wha-"  
"Why were you harnessed with me. I didn't stutter," I wasn't angry. I was spacing out. I couldn't seem to get out of my thoughts all the way.  
"They wanted people with you, someone on the inside just in case our guardian turned on us. Tyler was part of it too," he sighed. He had given up on being defensive. He seemed to only want it over with.  
"They don't do that unless you're important. Ben's not even done anything like that. What makes you so important?" I was out of my own little world, and frustrated that he hadn't told me anything. I cared for him, and he didn't tell me anything. I thought I was over getting hurt by people I care about.  
"Because.. Red-eye's right hand man is my sister."


	22. Chapter 22

**Thank you for all the reviews. Thank you for all the views! And for sticking around. I hope you check up to read the prequel and any other stories I start to write.(:  
*******EDIT: I HAVE DECIDED TO POST THE PROLOGUE OF SEASON 3 AT THE END OF SEASON 2 BECAUSE I FEEL AS THOUGH NOT EVERYONE GOES TO READ SEASON 3 FOR CLEAR UPS TO UNDERSTAND. THE EPILOGUE OF THIS SEASON IS THE SAME AS THE PROLOGUE OF THE THIRD SEASON.**********

"Wait, what?" I didn't know that there was a 'right hand man'. I couldn't seem to absorb the news.  
"Don't think you know everything just yet, Estella. There's a catch to that. You killed her."  
I stared at him in disbelief. I couldn't have.  
"What? I've killed a few skitters, yes, but I-"  
"She wasn't a skitter Estella," He sighed, rubbing the back of his head, "She was starting to change. But she never got the chance to complete it."  
My confusion grew, "I didn't kill any human girls - oh no…"  
The eyes, and the jaw line. She had them too. That's what made me think he was familiar. I knew it had to do with me, and with skitters. I had felt like what I remembered didn't answer my question completely. And that was it. I had killed his little sister.  
"Patrick I.. I didn't know. I thought she was bad, I couldn't have guessed.. I didn't even know she was part of a rebellion then.."  
He gave me a sad smile, "I know 'Stell, and she would've died anyways, walking straight into the line of fire. She was with the rebellion when it started. Red-eye was her guardian. You know how they put one person in charge of major portions of a society? She was in charge of recruiting kids. She protected you when she kept you alive on the ship. And she made sure no one followed her when she went to see you when you shot her. People were starting to question her loyalty anyways. I was a bit mad at her at the time, but I was able to at least be on okay terms with her by then."  
"How can she still be his 'right hand man' - or in this case woman - then? If she's dead..?" What he was saying didn't answer almost any of my questions.  
"He's never replaced her. She was dear to him though. She was one of his first children, and she'll always have a place in his heart. I took over some of her duties, but I've not been.. Promoted, I guess you could say."  
"I'm so confused. Patrick I don't understand.." My head started to hurt again and the world around me began to blur, "What's going on with me?"  
I stumbled back and fell, catching myself from slamming my head on the ground.  
" 'Stella? Are you okay?" Pip knelt down next to me, trying to help me back up.  
"No!" I yelled, shoving him away, "Go away!"  
"Estella..?" I watched him stand, "It's me, Patrick."  
"Patrick? Oh," I put my head between my knees, "I don't understand.."  
The ground started to shake and the sky began to light up. When I glanced up, everything looked different. Felt different. Had I just hallucinated that whole conversation? No, I haven't had any in so long. It couldn't have been.  
"A storm? C'mon 'Stella, we need to get inside now!" Pip helped me up and took off towards the entrance of the mall. I didn't make it though, I stumbled forward and fell again.  
The rest of Charleston filed out behind me as we watched the sky in horror. After a crack of lightning, lights began to fall from the sky. And one was landing right in front of us.  
I started scooting back, trying to stand. Pip and Ben walked over to help me up, practically pulling me back to them as the ship opened.  
Out stepped a tall thin figure in a black suit. We didn't move, but watched it closely to see what would happen next.  
It's helmet pulled back away from it's face to reveal skin patterned almost like a snake's, and eyes like ours.  
It smiled to us.  
And that's when I started seeing overlords running up behind him. And I knew, I wasn't stable anymore. I wasn't in a world I could control.

**Woo! So, major drop off, major confusion, I feel like many of you will think this isn't going anywhere but down hill from here because of all the weird things going on, but I PROMISE, I know exactly where I'm taking it. There's supposed to be all this confusion. And craziness. I've actually done psychological research to look at when I wrote these last two chapters. Granted, I dunno if what caused this could actually do this damage, what's going on/what's being affected actually could happen.. if you stretched it/added in that she's also a de-harnessed kid. Please stick around for season 3! If you must understand some of this before then, just pm me and I guess I'll give some hints as to help you know this isn't just nonsense now. . You'll get your answers if you check up for season 3. And if you read the prequel, maybe some of these happenings could be explained from previous problems in her life before the alien attack, *hint hint* d:  
**

***To all my amazing readers/fans, I'll leave you with this, **

**With everything going on since she came back, how can you tell if what she's seen is real, and what's been in a world she can't control?~**

********EDIT, I HAVE POSTED THE PRLOGUE OF SEASON 3 THAT IS THE LAST TWO CHAPTERS OF THIS STORY IN 3rd PERSON. I HOPE IT'S TO HELP. JUST FIND MY SEASON 3 STORY AND READ THE FIRST CHAPTER.********


	23. Epilogue

*******EDIT: THIS IS ALSO THE PROLOGUE TO SEASON 3, IF YOU HAVE ALREADY READ THAT THEN YOU MAY SKIP THIS*****  
This is to help everyone out with the last two chapters, and I hope it explains or at least gives you a better understanding of what happens. Please remember that since this story is usually written in 1st person, it only explains what Estella sees. Since this chapter is in 3rd person, it will explain what is actually happening. Please continue to read my stories and I thank everyone who has read, reviewed, favorited, and followed my stories for Falling Skies. I love you all! :D **

Estella found sleep easily, cuddled up to Ben. While she slept though, he worried.  
Karen had done something intentional, he knew it. He just couldn't comprehend what it was yet. Karen always had a plan. She was too devious to let Estella walk away unharmed.  
"Oh, sweety.. Please be okay," his hand brushed some of her hair behind her ear and smiled. She was cute when she slept.  
Maggie beat on the window and opened it, her voice just loud enough to be heard over the wind.  
"We're almost there. You ready for an unhappy welcome party?"  
"There's nothing to celebrate, but they won't see it that way. They didn't watch people they cared about die though."  
Maggie snorted, "You got that right. Cozy in their little homes."  
With that, she slid the window shut again. His mind drifted again to the moment not too long ago where he hung, helpless against his will as he watched the girl he loved get tortured by that insignificant puppet.  
His hatred for her was a little biased, after all she's toyed with his brother and his girlfriend.  
The truck jerked to a stop and Ben tightened his grip on Estella to keep her from getting hurt.  
"C'mon 'Stella, wake up," He shook her gently and started pulling her out of the truck.  
"Wait, what's going on?" She rubbed her head, which was throbbing now.  
"We're going back into Charleston. C'mon, I'll help you out," Ben took her hand and helped her step out of the truck. He made sure to keep her close as he led her down the ramps and into the building.  
"Charleston?"  
"Yah, we're back at the mall. Are you okay?" Ben stopped, causing her to stop with him.  
"Oh, I'm fine. Just still half asleep is all. C'mon, we're being left behind," She took his hand and tried to lead him on with the others, but tripped over herself, "Crap. It's okay, really. You know how clumsy I am."  
Ben seemed unconvinced, but walked none the less. People were around them, clapping and cheering at their achievement. It wasn't one though.  
Estella seemed to space out so Ben led her the rest of the way into the mall, past the people to find Anne.  
"Hey Dr. Glass?" He led Estella around with one hand while he pulled Anne aside with the other, "Can you check out Estella?"  
"Uh, sure Ben. What's going on?" Anne led them into the infirmary.  
"I don't really know. She was talking to me for a little bit, then she just kind of shut down."  
Ben had led Estella over to a bed by her shoulders and sat her down. Anne was over to her, inspecting her not too long after.  
"She seems fine. Her eyes are open, and her breathing and heart rate are normal. I honestly don't know what's going on. But that device could have something to do with it, don't forget she shocked her spikes. I don't know if that could've done anything, but I wouldn't doubt it wasn't a planned event. They always seem to have a plot up their sleeve."  
The others had brought Hal in then, putting him on a table in another room.  
"Sorry Ben, but with her seeming fine I need to check out Hal. We'll come back to try to figure her out after. See if she's responded," Anne walked away, leaving Ben alone with Estella.  
"I've missed something, haven't I?" He sighed and ran his hands through his hair, "This seems so much like an episode, but you seemed fine before you went to sleep in the truck. I should've kept a closer eye on you. Since the attack, I've not paid any attention to any problems besides your nightmares. Your episodes are just so rare I-.. I dunno. Come back soon, please."  
He leaned forward to place a kiss on her forehead before walking away.  
Estella seemed lifeless, but a lot was going on in her head.  
_.."You killed her." _  
_"Pip I never killed a girl- oh no.. I didn't know Pip. I'm so sorry about your sister.."_  
She stood, walking out of the infirmary and through the crowd of people, her gaze seeming to see something beyond this world.  
_"I'm confused, Patrick. I don't understand. Ugh, what's going on with me?"_  
Her feet led her out into the city, where she aimlessly began to wander away.  
"Stella? Stella, what're you doing out here? 'Stella? Are you okay?" Pip had been looking for her for a while. When he asked the soldiers if they'd seen her, someone told him that she had walked outside. It didn't make sense to him, her wandering off. It wasn't something she normally did. She liked to stay close. She always had to watch to make sure nothing happened to Ben.  
" 'Stella?" He grabbed her arm and tried to look at her, but she didn't give him any attention. He shook her a little before she stumbled back, ripping her arm from his grip.  
"No!" Her scream echoed through the abandoned streets, "Get away!"  
"Estella it's me," He stood above her and put his hand out, he wasn't going to dare touching her again, "It's Patrick."  
"Oh, Patrick," He watched as she tucked her head between her legs, her body shaking, "I don't understand.."  
Pip looked up to the sky, a worried look on his face. This storm coming in didn't look good.  
"C'mon 'Stell, we need to get inside!"  
He pulled her up and tried to drag her with him into the mall but she refused, trying to break free again.  
"What's going on with you!?"  
Just then, the ground began to shake. Pip was quick to give up and instead headed inside to try and find Ben. Maybe he could do something about her.  
While he was going in, almost everyone that was in the mall began to file out in confusion.  
"Ben!" Pip found Ben's jacket easily.  
"I don't have time, Patrick. I need to find Estella. She's gone missing," He was in full panic mode. Of course he would be, he'd let her walk away while she was in another world. He's seen what could happen if she went unattended, and he didn't want to witness that again.  
"No, she's up there, in the front of the crowd. I tried to get her in but she didn't seem to recognize me very well."  
"So I was right.." Ben shoved through the crowd of people, Patrick behind him.  
As they made their way to the front, white lights began to fall from the sky. One started to fall almost directly above them and you could soon see that it was a ship. Ben and Pip made their way to Estella as soon as it landed.  
Ben knelt in front of her face and tried to shake her back into the real world.  
" 'Stella, now's not the time for this. You need to come back," Ben knew it was hopeless though, and he had Pip help him pull Estella up and back into the crowd with the rest of the people.  
"Ben, what exactly were you right about?" Pip yelled over the noise. Ben's attention went to the ship in front of them.  
The door opened, and out stepped a figure in all black. With it's helmet retreating from it's face, you could make out the snake like skin and human eyes.  
"Well, they came fast."


End file.
